MLMD -Chapter 109 A Bountiful Harvest (Part 2)

Admittedly, Yue Yang and Hailan Zhu were a loving couple, and there was no need to question the depth of their feelings. However, when it came to relations between two powers, relying on emotion alone would be far too childish.

Between factions, the strongest bond was always利益—interest. Only powerful, tangible benefits could truly bind two forces together. Using marriage alliances to solidify relations could only ever be temporary. Hadn’t there been countless Han princesses married off to the Xiongnu during the Han dynasty? In the end, didn’t the fighting resume all the same?

In Yue Yang’s view, the best way to drive a wedge between the Khorchin tribe and the Jurchens was to corrode them with grain and abundant daily supplies. He wanted the Khorchin people to understand that as long as they honestly raised horses and tended their herds each year, then exchanged some cattle and sheep for grain with the Han people at year’s end, the entire tribe could live a life free from want. Once they were well fed and warmly clothed, how many people would still be willing to risk their lives following Later Jin southward to plunder? After all, robbing others always came with danger.

Winning over the Khorchin tribe was the first step of Yue Yang’s plan. If he could also secure the various Mongol tribes, it would be equivalent to cutting off one of the Jurchens’ arms, making them far easier to deal with in the future.

Watching Hailan Zhu brim with joy, a trace of guilt rose in Yue Yang’s heart. After all, scheming even against one’s own wife felt rather… questionable. But then he reconsidered—had he really done anything wrong? Besides, this was for their benefit as well. Soon enough, that fleeting guilt was flung far beyond the clouds.

News of Wuli Village’s great harvest spread rapidly. Those farmers who had previously doubted Yue Yang and refused to plant the super hybrid rice he provided were now utterly miserable. Seeing other people’s fields piled with grain like small hills, then looking at their own meager harvests, many regretted it so much they wanted to smash their heads against the wall.

Before long, these farmers selected several elders to seek out Yue Yang, who was inspecting the fields, and begged him to sell them the rice seeds as well. To their surprise, Yue Yang refused.

“Lord Yue, you can’t just ignore us! Even if we’re not your tenant farmers, we’re still people of Wuli Village. We were blind last time and didn’t heed your advice. Please, give us another chance—sell us some seeds! I’ll kowtow to you!”

“Hey, hey… get up, all of you!” Yue Yang quickly helped the leading old farmers to their feet. With a troubled expression, he said, “Elders, it’s not that I’m unwilling to sell you the rice seeds. It’s that these seeds can only be planted for one season. If you plant them again, the yield will drop drastically. Forget a thousand jin per mu—even two hundred jin per mu would be unlikely. And these seeds were all purchased from foreigners; I don’t have any left now.”

“However…” Yue Yang pondered for a long time before continuing, “I do still have some other seeds obtained from foreigners. These crops have high yields and are very drought- and cold-resistant. If you trust me, I suggest you try planting them this year. What do you say?”

“These…” The old men exchanged glances before asking, “My lord, what kinds of seeds are these?”

Yue Yang smiled. “Wheat, corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes. Especially this thing called the potato—it has the highest yield of all, even reaching two thousand jin per mu.”

“Two thousand jin?!” A chorus of shocked cries erupted around them. No one could believe their ears.

“My lord… you… you didn’t misspeak, did you? Two thousand jin… per mu?” The old men were dumbfounded, as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight.

“Of course not. Would I lie to you?” Yue Yang rubbed his nose, feeling rather helpless. After all, once the jade pendant malfunctioned, the source of the super hybrid rice seeds had been cut off. Taking this into account, on his last trip he had brought with him large quantities of high-quality potato, wheat, corn, and sweet potato seeds cultivated in later generations, intending to plant them extensively on his own lands.

“These…” The old men exchanged looks again, clearly skeptical. A thousand jin per mu had already stunned them, and now Yue Yang was talking about two thousand jin—it wasn’t just shocking, it was downright terrifying.

Seeing their expressions, Yue Yang sighed inwardly. These things really were too far ahead of their time. He impatiently waved his hand. “Alright, don’t rush to decide. Go back and think it over. I still have matters to attend to, so I won’t keep you company.”

With that, Yue Yang stood up, walked over to his horse, mounted it, and rode off. In his view, he had already done more than enough. When he first asked them to plant the super hybrid rice with him, they had refused cleanly one by one. Now that they saw its high yield, they came running eagerly. And when he said there were no rice seeds left and proposed another crop instead, they began doubting him again. Yue Yang truly didn’t want to bother with such people. Why should he? He owed them nothing. If they didn’t believe him, then so be it—why should he care about their fate?

After returning to Yingzhou with several of his wives, Yue Yang hadn’t even had time to go back to his residence when he was intercepted by Lu Bantou, who had been sent by Zheng Fakui.

“Lord Yue, I’ve finally found you! Lord Zheng urgently requests your presence at his residence!”

Seeing Lu Bantou drenched in sweat, Yue Yang asked curiously, “What’s happened? Don’t tell me bandits have appeared again?”

“No, not bandits. I’m not sure either—you’ll know once you go!” Lu Bantou replied with a deferential smile, bowing slightly as he looked at Yue Yang, who was in plain clothes with mud still clinging to his official boots.

“In that case, fine. I’ll go with you.” Yue Yang had Hailan Zhu and Linglong return home first, then headed for the prefectural yamen with a few guards.

When Yue Yang entered the inner hall of the yamen, Zheng Fakui personally came forward to greet him.

“Lord Yue, you’re finally here! I’ve been looking for you for ages!”

Seeing the faintly anxious look on Zheng Fakui’s face, Yue Yang asked in confusion, “Lord Zheng, what’s the matter? Seeing how urgently Lu Bantou was searching for me, I thought bandits were invading our borders again.”

“Well… not bandits, actually. It’s something else. Let’s sit down and talk.” Zheng Fakui suddenly blushed and gestured toward a nearby chair.

After they took their seats and a maid served tea, Yue Yang didn’t drink it and went straight to the point. “My lord, just say it. I’m not used to beating around the bush.”

“Very well, then I’ll speak plainly.” Zheng Fakui knew Yue Yang’s straightforward nature and didn’t mind his tone. After clearing his throat, he said, “First, congratulations on Wuli Village’s great harvest, with granaries filled to the brim. Secondly… well… Lord Yue, shouldn’t you… shouldn’t you also pay some taxes?”

“Taxes?” Yue Yang froze, only realizing after a long pause that he really hadn’t paid any grain tax yet.

Seeing Yue Yang’s stunned expression, Zheng Fakui said awkwardly, “This… I know it’s a bit hard to bring up, but imperial grain and state taxes have existed since time immemorial. If you don’t want to pay in full, even a symbolic amount would do…”

“No, no—stop right there.” Yue Yang quickly interrupted. “Lord Zheng, you’ve misunderstood. I’m not saying I won’t pay taxes. Rest assured, whatever I owe, I’ll pay in full without complaint. I just don’t know how much I should pay.”

“Well… it’s like this. The tax you owe is…” Overjoyed to hear Yue Yang willing to pay, Zheng Fakui promptly explained everything in detail.

After a while, Yue Yang finally understood—and discovered that the taxes he owed were astonishingly low, almost unbelievably so. In the early Hongwu years, farmland tax was originally three to four dou per mu. Later, the tax on private land was reduced to one dou of rice per mu, about 18.9 jin. Was that high? In Yue Yang’s eyes, it was outrageously low.

Half an hour later, after Zheng Fakui’s patient explanations, Yue Yang came to understand three facts:

1. Taxation in the Ming dynasty was extremely low—agricultural taxes were low, and commercial taxes were even lower.
2. Over more than 250 years, Ming taxes had not increased; in fact, they had steadily decreased, with agricultural taxes falling and commercial taxes dropping even more.
3. In the late Ming period, any attempt to raise taxes met with widespread outcry, so much so that whenever the government tried to increase levies, it faced enormous resistance.

These revelations completely overturned Yue Yang’s long-held impression of the Ming dynasty.

Since the Qing dynasty, Chinese people had been constantly taught that Ming rulers were cruel and depraved, that they imposed harsh levies and squeezed the people dry, leaving the masses to suffer in misery. The fall of the Ming, according to this narrative, was due to unbearable taxation that drove the people to revolt.

This was how the Qing rulers portrayed it. This was how modern textbooks wrote it. Even many so-called historians’ articles and monographs repeated the same claims. But was this really the truth?

What shocked Yue Yang most was that when Zheng Fakui spoke to him about collecting taxes, his attitude was almost shy—as though he were bringing up something shameful. This utterly baffled Yue Yang, who was accustomed to paying taxes. It was just tax collection—why act as if you were confessing to an affair?

Looking at Zheng Fakui, Yue Yang cautiously asked, “My lord, may I ask how much grain tax and commercial tax Yingzhou Prefecture collected this year?”

At Yue Yang’s question, Zheng Fakui gave an answer that nearly made him spit blood.