Chapter 307 – A Flurry of Heartbeats

Wei Ruo explained, “Taizhou Prefecture has a vast area and a large number of disaster victims, once the land is successfully opened up, the economic gains from the food revenue is enormous. To put it simply, this is not just a disaster relief campaign, but also a business.”

Someone who didn’t understand it very well inquired, “Can Miss Wei tell us more about it?”

Wei Ruo further explained, “In the early stage, we use funds and grain as payment to hire disaster victims and let them labor, reclaim and improve the wasteland, and plant crops. When the fall harvest comes, the grain goes to the contributors. Not only that, the reclaimed land also becomes good land that can be planted, and this good land will also belong to the contributors.”

Investing money up front and then not only harvesting food but also getting a good piece of land later on sounds like a very profitable deal.

In order to give the crowd a better understanding of the costs and benefits involved, Wei Ruo began to give the crowd an accounting: “The labor required to reclaim one acre of wasteland is slightly higher than that required to plant an ordinary rice field; on average, an adult man can reclaim and take care of one and a half acres of land.”

“Assuming that the remuneration we would have to pay this adult man would be three pounds of rice per day, a month would be ninety pounds of rice, and the time required from improved clearing to harvest would be from eight to ten months, or from seven hundred and twenty pounds of rice to nine hundred pounds of rice.”

“According to my previous experience of planting in Xingshan County, the mu yield of wheat can reach one thousand pounds per mu, and the mu value of rice is also around one thousand pounds.”

“That means that by paying less than nine hundred pounds of grain, after less than a year, you will be able to harvest more than a thousand pounds of grain and get an acre of good land.”

Because of the recent surge in grain prices, Wei Ruo used the weight of grain instead of silver money in his calculations.

After listening to Wei Ruo’s words, the ladies had different thoughts.

Grain production can be essentially equalized while still harvesting a plot of land, which sounds like a very good deal.

“Big Miss Wei, this business of yours sounds very cost-effective, but it’s just that the remuneration given will not be a bit too high, three pounds of grain per person per day, this is something that was not available in the past.” Someone raised a question.

It’s a special time now, how come the price has gone up here in the Wei family?

Wei Ruo replied, “This price is indeed still debatable, but on my side, according to the daily payment of three pounds of grain, there is still a very generous profit, so it can be seen that this deal is well worth doing.”

Indeed, this is not true, even if this year, the expenditure of food and harvested food is equal to the good, and finally get the field is earned for nothing!

Everyone looked at Mrs. Yuan, and a lady asked Mrs. Yuan on behalf of everyone: “Mrs. Yuan, is it true what Eldest Miss Wei said? In the end, the improved fields are owned by the contributors?”

Mrs. Yuan gave an affirmative answer, “That’s right, it’s true. I have already discussed this matter with my family’s sovereign, and he is in agreement.”

With Mrs. Yuan’s affirmative answer, the crowd had nothing to question.

At this point there were already some heartburn from the Lady.

At this time Wei Ruo continued, “Now Mrs. Yuan and His Seventh Highness are presiding over this matter together, if it can be accomplished, it will solve the plight of the present-day stragglers and the victims starving to death on the streets, for the people, it is a life-saving straw; for the imperial court, it is a great achievement.”

At this time, Sister Qin, who had been silent all along, also spoke up at the right time, “That’s right, nowadays the imperial court attaches great importance to disaster relief, if the Taizhou Prefecture is able to complete its self-help and save the disaster and the people without the need for the imperial court to send out food, it will be a credit to the imperial court.”

Wei Ruo and Sister Qin’s words reminded the ladies that the disaster relief was led by the Yuan Family and the Seventh Prince, and to participate in it was to establish a connection with the two of them, and for them it was a rare opportunity to draw closer to them.

What’s more, this is still the court is very concerned about the disaster relief event, by then if things come to fruition, then the people involved in it may be able to count a credit to be rewarded by the court.

Here are all the way to hold the family, the management of a good mother of the house, naturally know that this matter is profitable, and very likely to be both fame and fortune, the hand has enough money and food situation does not make sense not to participate in it.

The question now is how to become that contributor.

It was Mrs. Xu who was the first to open her mouth and ask Wei Ruo, “Big girl, I wonder how one is going to become a contributor to this?”

The other ladies also looked at Wei Ruo, wondering how this was going to be enforced.

Yun also looked at Wei Ruo with eager eyes, this thing is so good since she wants the Wei family to participate in the middle.

Wei Ruo replied, “This matter was originally led by the government office, Mrs. Yuan, and the Seventh Highness, and was fully funded by these three parties, with the final proceeds going to these three parties.”

The government office counts as official, and Mrs. Yuan’s own funding counts as personal, so that counts as two.

Hearing Wei Ruo’s answer, a few ladies’ faces flashed with disappointment, but most of them, such as Lady Xu, who was calm and old-fashioned, were not in a hurry.

Because they knew that the Wei family’s eldest girl must have words behind her, if there were really only these three families contributing, they wouldn’t have called them today.

After a short pause, Wei Ruo continued, “However, the government office has limited manpower, and His Highness is busy with military affairs, so he can’t get away. But the disaster relief matter should be the more thorough the better, and the fewer mistakes we can make, the fewer mistakes we can make.”

“That’s right, Big Miss Wei has a point, this matter must be cautious, there are rioters among the stragglers who don’t send out, and if they are not managed properly, there is a possibility that they will cause conflicts.”

“And food dispatch is also a big problem, for fear of unruly people looting.”

“The matter should be approached with caution and more caution, and it would be more prudent to have more people involved to help.”

“……”

Several ladies spoke up to second Wei Ruo.

Wei Ruo could sense from their words that they had been moved.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Wei Ruo said, “So in this matter, Lady Yuan and His Seventh Highness intend to let all the capable people within the Taizhou Prefecture to participate, those with money to contribute, those with people to contribute, and those with food to contribute, so that we can all work together to complete this action of providing relief to the people in lieu of work.”

After Wei Ruo finished speaking, Mrs. Yuan followed up with her statement, “At that time, for all of your contributions, no matter if you contributed money, people or grain, they will all be recorded. Once the great work is accomplished, we will divide the land and grain according to the size of the contribution. The corresponding achievements will be reported to the court by my family’s lord, and we will never omit a single bit.”

The ladies were thoroughly heartened and took a stand:

“Mrs. Yuan, Taizhou Prefecture has suffered this great calamity, my Liu family is a Taizhou Prefecture scholarly clan, and I should do my best for the people.”

“Mrs. Yuan, although my family is not a big family, I would like to make a small contribution to the people of Taizhou Province.”

“Your Ladyship, as you command, my Zhen family can pay no matter if it’s money, people or food.”

“……”