Young Master Gao? Call me Little Grand Secretary!

Land is the most important means of production for farmers, without exception!

Theoretically speaking, the more land one owns, the higher one's income.

This principle is very simple, and many people understand it, so everyone guards their own land tightly and would never easily transfer it.

In this situation, what should one do if they want to own more land?

Of course there is a way to do this: force the people to sell their land!

For example, a natural disaster can leave people with weak risk resistance with no harvest, and a serious illness can bankrupt them. At that time, they can only sell their land to survive!

Of course, natural disasters are uncontrollable, and the imperial court will provide relief. So, man-made disasters are used; forced buying and selling is one method, but it's too crude and risky!

During the Yuanfeng era, Zhang Dun held the position of Vice Chancellor, but a farmer accused his father, Zhang Yu, of forcibly buying farmland, which led to an impeachment by the censor. Zhang Dun lost face and was even transferred to a local post!

The correct approach is to set a trap to ruin the other party, exhaust their wealth, and force them to sell their land!

The Song Dynasty did not prohibit land annexation. Regardless of who owned the land, they had to pay taxes to the imperial court!

Even Zhao Kuangyin directly stated, "The wealthy own vast tracts of land; they are here to safeguard the nation's wealth!"

Therefore, this method is completely legal!

When Gao Zhao saw the change in the village head's expression, he naturally thought of this. This scoundrel must have his eye on someone's land and wanted to force them to sell it. That's why he deliberately concealed the situation and didn't let Gao Zhao help them, for fear that the person would recover and ruin his plans.

If you want to do good, that's fine with me!

But you can't let your petty squabbles interfere with my important business!

At his command, three lackeys rushed forward, fists raised, ready to strike. Terrified, the man hurriedly covered his head and begged for mercy: "Young master, please calm down! To tell you the truth, there are people in our village who are starving."

"Stop!" Gao Zhao shouted again, halting the three men, then smiled gently, "That's more like it! As the village head, you should be thinking of the villagers, not scheming about such shady dealings!"

The village head, looking at the three fierce-looking men, chuckled dryly, still shaken, and said, "Young master, you are right. This old man is ashamed!"

"Alright! Lead the way!" Gao Zhao was too lazy to waste words, and even less inclined to listen to the righteous person's explanation. There are no truly upright gentlemen in this world; they all harbor wicked intentions. The difference is that those in high positions care about their reputation and use covert methods, while those at the bottom are more direct!

This has been true throughout history!

The village head, with a forced smile, led the way, winding through the village for a while. They arrived at a thatched hut, where he stopped and hesitated, saying, "Young master, Old Zhang's family is the poorest in our village; they're almost starving..."

"You neighbors are really something!" Gao Yi sneered, interrupting him.

The village head smiled awkwardly, wanting to explain that each family had its own difficulties, but he was interrupted by Gao Zhao as soon as he opened his mouth.

"Since you're here, let's go in together. With you, a fellow villager, here, it'll be easier to explain the situation!"

"Yes!" The village head bowed and nodded, about to step forward, then stopped and hesitated, saying, "Young master, let me say something first, listen to this before you decide whether to go in or not!"

Gao Zhao glanced at him sideways, sensing a hidden meaning in his words, and frowned slightly before saying, "Speak!"

The village head took a deep breath and said, "These farmers in our village have been targeted by the authorities. This year's seedling loan will depend on them!"

Gao Zhao didn't understand. He knew about the Green Seed Loan, a system introduced during Wang Anshi's reforms. The government would lend money to farmers through the Ever-Normal Granary when they were short of food and needed to plant crops, and the loans would be repaid in the fall. He just didn't know what this had to do with his good deeds.

He turned to look at the other three. Lu Qian and Gao Yi both looked completely bewildered, while only Fu An raised his hand and said, "Young master, you may not know this, but the officials in the yamen all have quotas for 'Green Seed Loans,' which are related to their performance evaluations!"

Gao Zhao nodded, without much reaction. In later generations, banks also had lending quotas, which was normal. It was just that the quotas were given to the local government here!

In his memory, the Qingmiao Loan was a low-interest loan introduced by the Song Dynasty government, a good policy that benefited the people. It was strange to see how these people feared it like a tiger.

Fu An continued, "On the surface, the Green Seedling Loan is not allowed to be forced upon the people; it's entirely based on their own volition. However, local officials, for the sake of their political achievements, often disregard the people's wishes and forcibly impose it on them to earn interest!"

Gao Zhao understood immediately. So that's why Wang Anshi was criticized for so many years!

But then he thought again and felt something was wrong. He waved his hand and said, "Leaving aside the harm of forced levies, these poor people don't even have enough to eat. They really need it, so why not lend it to them?"

The village head, with a mournful face, said, "That seedling loan charges 20% interest; we simply can't afford to repay it!"

"How much!" Gao Zhaoren was shocked. 20% interest, and the key point is that it only takes a few months from spring planting to autumn harvest. This annualized interest rate is definitely usury!

It's even more ruthless than the online lending platforms of later generations!

How are farmers supposed to repay loans with such high interest rates?

With online loans, if you're willing to take the plunge, you can simply choose not to repay them!

But do you dare not repay the money owed to the government? If you become a county magistrate who ruins your family, or a magistrate who wipes out your entire clan, that's a no-brainer!

Fu An continued, "Young Master, we're in the capital, right under the Emperor's nose. This is already considered good. I've heard that in those remote areas, interest rates can be several times higher, and that doesn't even include the exploitation by those clerks!"

"Damn it, how can the people survive? What if they can't pay back the money?!" Gao Zhaoren was stunned. This was a loan from the imperial court! Wasn't this driving people to their deaths?

"If you can't pay it back, just sell the house and land, and become a tenant farmer!" Fu An said casually, "Anyway, those wealthy families need people to farm the land they buy!"

Gao Zhao was somewhat lost in thought. The perception of the Song Dynasty in later generations was that it was a place of literary elegance and material abundance. In fact, this was not wrong. Those scholar-officials and wealthy families were indeed like that!

However, few people pay attention to ordinary people, since they cannot write poetry or leave their mark on history, and their dull and boring lives are indeed not worth recording!

They're so ordinary that a single strike from Qingmiao Law could wipe them out in one fell swoop!

And this doesn't even include other taxes levied by the Song Dynasty!

Gao Zhao shook his head, a long-lost youthful spirit suddenly rising in his heart.

This is wrong; people shouldn't live like this!

"Young master, do you still want to go?" the village head asked tentatively. "If you ruin the affairs of the yamen, I'm afraid it won't be good!"

Upon hearing this, Gao Zhao hesitated slightly. As the saying goes, ruining a person's future is like killing their parents. Such actions would likely incur resentment from others!

However, he immediately thought of the benefits of gratitude points and then felt that if the other party held a grudge against him for such a small matter, then the other party must not be a good person!

You can offend this kind of person if you want!

If the other side dares to cause trouble, I'll go and beat the drum to appeal to the emperor, and we'll have a showdown in front of the emperor!

In short, we're in the right, so what are we afraid of!