Courtyard House: Rebirth of a Shopkeeper in 1937

In chaotic times, people already struggle to survive, relying entirely on careful calculations and meticulous planning. No one anticipated that government decrees would change so drastically, leaving no room for maneuver and catching everyone off guard. Many shrewd farmers froze on the spot, their hands and feet turning cold, staring blankly at the stacks of legal tender they had accumulated, their faces ashen. Previously, land taxes had been collected in legal tender every year, and every household had followed the old ways, selling their early harvest rice early and painstakingly exchanging it for legal tender to store, all to ensure a smooth tax payment and avoid the hassle of stockpiling grain. Who would have thought that with the sudden change in government decrees, their hard-earned banknotes would become virtually worthless in an instant?

A middle-aged farmer clutched the legal tender in his hand, his knuckles white and his hands trembling. His voice was filled with despair and resentment as he shouted, "How can you change the rules so easily! We've been collecting legal tender every year before, it's never changed! I sold all my grain reserves and exchanged them for this pile of banknotes. Now they only collect grain and not money. Doesn't all my hard-earned money just go to waste and become worthless paper?" He became more and more agitated as he spoke, his eyes reddening, his voice filled with grievances he could not voice.

The surrounding crowd echoed their cries, creating a chaotic scene. An elderly farmer, hunched over, repeatedly beat his chest and sighed, his face filled with sorrow and despair: "Heaven is against us! Why wasn't this decree announced a few days earlier! My family just sold the last load of grain to the passing army yesterday, and now the granary is empty, with only a little bit of coarse grain left to eat! If we hand it all over to pay taxes, my whole family will have to eat tree bark and drink cold water for the next six months!" Farmers with able-bodied men in their families were even more panicked. They were already worried about being conscripted, and now with the added burden of land taxes, the double shackles were suffocating them. Standing in the crowd, they were at a loss, shaking their heads and smiling bitterly, their eyes filled with despair. Families with slightly better means had already begun to quietly plan ahead, inquiring around about who had surplus grain to sell, and were in a hurry to collect grain to pay their taxes; while poor farmers were helpless and could only stand there blankly, their faces full of confusion and helplessness.

In an instant, voices of regret, anxiety, resentment, and helplessness mingled together. The oppressive atmosphere that had just been caused by the dissolution of the base and neighborhood disputes was completely disrupted by the sudden new policy, and the hearts of the entire village were once again filled with unease.

Seeing this, the three Song siblings immediately stopped what they were doing, quickly tied up the rice seed sacks, and decisively stopped selling. All the rice stored at their maternal grandfather's house was stockpiled there, and the grain situation of the other cooperative households was still unknown. With the sudden new tax policy and the uncertain situation, they could only temporarily suspend the rice seed sale and wait for the tax crisis to subside. Xingbao sighed inwardly; the village's current predicament was subtly related to him.

The improved seed soaking and seedling raising techniques he promoted were popularized within the village and gradually spread outwards, resulting in the early rice harvest being ten days earlier than traditional methods. Many villagers worried that a concentrated harvest of early rice would depress grain prices, so they sold all their new grain early to exchange for currency in preparation for paying taxes. However, this wasn't a dead end. The new policy was hastily implemented without prior announcement or preparation, and most of the grain sold by the villagers had been supplied to passing troops; its whereabouts were clear and the accounts were traceable. If the village head was willing to report the facts truthfully and plead on their behalf, explaining the situation to the township, there might be room for leniency. Another option was to exploit the information gap and buy back the grain from neighboring villages before they received the news, although doing so would be somewhat unethical!

The crowd buzzed with discussion and anxiety. The village head raised his hand to quell the commotion, his expression growing increasingly serious. With the rigid, authoritative tone of a low-level official, he continued, "Stop arguing! This is a military supply mission to support the soldiers on the front lines. It's a national policy, and there's no room for shirking, delaying, or taking chances! Anyone who has already sold out of grain should quickly find ways to buy more to make up the difference. While there's still time, there's still a chance to salvage the situation. Those who fail to deliver by the deadline will be punished as violators!" He paused, then introduced another new... He explained everything clearly and bluntly, his tone unforgiving. "Furthermore, the government has issued new grain vouchers, which are essentially official IOUs. All surplus rice and grains from each household will be collected and stored in the granary, and vouchers will be issued as proof. These vouchers can be redeemed for silver or used to offset future land taxes. I have already conveyed the terms and conditions; each household should check their grain and prepare accordingly!" With that, he ignored the wailing and panic of the crowd, turned and boarded his sedan chair, leaving the entire village helpless and in disarray.

The quick-witted and astute villagers in the crowd had already recovered from the shock. Forgetting their complaints, they hurriedly turned and ran home to rummage through their sacks, intending to rush to neighboring villages to buy up any remaining grain, quickly make up for the tax shortfall, and seize the last opportunity for redress. Seeing the turmoil in the village and the dramatic changes in grain prices and tax regulations, the eldest brother immediately sought out his grandfather to discuss the disposal of the rice seeds. The two considered the situation and compared market prices, finally settling on a plan: one jin of improved rice seeds would be exchanged for four jin of ordinary rice, perfectly matching the current market price of improved seeds, without taking advantage of others or deliberately offering discounts. However, at this moment, the whole village was in a state of panic and chaos. Everyone was disoriented by the new tax policy, and the exchange required returning home to retrieve grain, a time-consuming and laborious process. As a result, very few villagers were willing to come and exchange for rice seeds.

The villagers were too busy frantically scrambling to gather food to make ends meet, their minds preoccupied with the impending inability to pay taxes. No one saw the deadly pitfall hidden within this new policy. More than the immediate crisis of not being able to gather enough grain, the government's grain vouchers were the heavy shackles that firmly locked away the livelihoods of all farmers. This seemingly secure official IOU was merely a pretext for the government to levy grain in disguise, taking away all surplus grain and miscellaneous crops from each household without payment or any substantial compensation. Whether it would be redeemed, how much would be redeemed, or whether it would become a worthless piece of paper was entirely uncertain. Hidden within these vague promises were endless risks, enough to slowly erode the savings and livelihoods of each farming family over several years. It was precisely this oppressive layer of grain taxes and the chaotic state of mind that led farmers to be preoccupied with their own survival and to cherish their grain like their own lives, inadvertently creating numerous obstacles to the widespread adoption of the first improved rice varieties.

With the new regulation replacing land tax with in-kind grain tax, farmers, in order to collect their tax grain, frantically sold off their stockpiled legal tender and scrambled to buy grain. The market appeared bustling with transactions and a false sense of prosperity, but in reality, it further accelerated the devaluation and collapse of the legal tender. This chaotic monetary turmoil did not directly affect the Song family. As a business owner with no land tax, they could still pay merchant taxes in legal tender as usual, unaffected by the new grain tax policy. However, a treacherous official in power created difficulties at every turn. The eldest brother's private school, a quiet place for teaching and nurturing students with meager income and no land tax, was deliberately targeted by Uncle Bu, who forcibly imposed a tax of two shi (a unit of dry measure) of grain, causing him an unwarranted loss.