Land rent was the rent that the tenant farmers paid to the landlord, and it was the landlord's main source of income.
And now, these squires and landowners of Chongwen Town used the excuse of storing grain to refuse to sell to Jiang Yi.
As for why this was the case…
Because everything had its pros and cons. Some time ago, in order to expand the strength of the security team, Jiang Yi incorporated all the tenants who originally belonged to the Jiang family into the security team, but this also left a large area of land empty.
In addition, Jiang Yi was the person who owned the most land in Chongwen Town. With the death of Master Tan, he annexed many of the Tan family's land. In order to ensure that the land was not barren, and to provide a stable food supply for the security regiment and expand his own source of soldiers, Jiang Yi lowered the land rent of his own land to attract those farmers who had lost their land because of the war or the exploitation of the landlord.
Although this method took care of ordinary people and increased the resident population of Chongwen Town, it hurt the interests of many landowners and squires.
Let me give you a simple example.
Jiang Yi's family's land rent was 30%, while the other landowners 'rent was 70%, or even 80%.
In the past, everyone had no choice and could only accept 70% or 80%. But now, with Jiang Yi's 30%, everyone's thoughts were on Jiang Yi. They wanted to farm for Jiang Yi, and some even wanted to join Jiang Yi's army. After all, although it was dangerous, the benefits were really high.
The Jiang family only wanted 30% of their land, but why did they want 70%? If they didn't lower the price by 30%, they would not rent their land anymore. They would go to Mayor Jiang to ask for rent. This was what all the tenants in Chongwen Town were thinking.
If one or two tenants said so, the squires and landowners would naturally not be afraid. In any case, if only one or two of them caused trouble, they would just send servants to beat them up. However, since all the tenants said so, all the landowners and squires were afraid.
After all, they still had to rely on these tenants to farm for them. What would they do if all the tenants ran away?
Therefore, in order to respond to Jiang Yi's rent reduction, the other squires of Chongwen Town could only follow suit.
And every cent of land rent that was lost was like a white ocean to those squires and landowners. It was like cutting their flesh.
When Jiang Yi was around, he held a large number of troops and the mayor's righteousness, so no one dared to say anything.
But now, Jiang Yi was gone, and even the security team had been taken away by him. Only two hundred people were left to guard Chongwen Town. The originally suppressed squires suddenly had thoughts of fighting with you in person, but they would secretly trip you up.
It was fine to reduce the amount of grain sold to the Jiang family, right?
Jiang Yi's other policy was that all the grain produced in Chongwen Town was not allowed to be sold except for the portion that was sold to the people of Chongwen Town. The rest could only be sold to Jiang Yi.
This was not because Jiang Yi was deliberately lowering the price of grain and buying grain at a low price to exploit the squires. The price Jiang Yi gave was reasonable and sometimes even higher than the market price.
He did this to expand the grain storage in his hands to ensure the logistics of the army. At the same time, he also ensured that if there was a famine, there would be food to prevent disasters. Moreover, this policy was not only implemented in Chongwen Town, but also in the entire Fukang County controlled by Jiang Yi.
After all, in this era of war, a gold bar might not be as valuable as a mouthful of food.
The squires of Chongwen Town also knew that a portion of the grain that Jiang Yi purchased was supplied to the army. Thus, they banded together and wanted to use the grain in their hands to force Jiang Yi to compromise with them. After all, no matter how stupid they were, they knew that the three armies had not touched the grain before they came.
But would Jiang Yi really compromise with them? Obviously not.
After listening to Yi Tian's story in the study, Jiang Yi lowered his head and thought for a while before saying,""It seems that during my absence, all these evil people have jumped out. Since they are not willing to be my friends, they can only be my enemies.”
Hearing Jiang Yi's words, Yi Tian's eyes turned cold and he asked,""Young Master, what should we do? We can't let them do whatever they want.”
Jiang Yi did not immediately reply. Instead, he took a sip of tea and said unhurriedly,"I heard that a group of bandits came to Eagle Beak Mountain recently.”
Yi Tian was puzzled by these words. He thought to himself, Wasn't Eagle Beak Mountain already the Southern Army's encampment? When did a group of bandits come?
Just as Yi Tian was feeling puzzled, Jiang Yi continued,"Uncle Tian, don't you think it's nice to hear that the bandits entered the city and the squire died suddenly?”
Jiang Yi had never been lenient towards his enemies. Since the squire wanted to go against him, he would make them unable to be humans. They would not even have the chance to be ghosts.
Yi Tian, he, was naturally not a kind person either. Hence, he understood Jiang Yi's meaning the moment he heard. He nodded and left.
That night, a group of people dressed in black entered Chongwen Town. The soldiers who were originally stationed there had already received orders to turn a blind eye to these suspicious people. They knew that Chongwen Town would bleed today.
After the team of men in black entered the town, they immediately headed towards a brightly lit mansion in the town. They received news that the squires who opposed Jiang Yi today had gathered together in this mansion to discuss how to resist Jiang Yi.
At this moment, the squires in the mansion were still unaware that danger was approaching. They were talking loudly about how to force Jiang Yi to compromise as soon as possible and make Jiang Yi raise the land rent, as well as what conditions they would propose after the compromise.
However, the person behind the party was not from Chongwen Town, but a young man from Wine Town. The squires did not know him. They were introduced by a young squires from Chongwen Town. They only knew that his name was David, the son of the mayor of Jiuquan Town.
However, just being the mayor's son was not enough to make the squires come to see Dave. He had a bigger identity-Cao Ying's special envoy.
Of course, David was not a philanthropist.
He had not come to Chongwen Town to help the squire fight against Jiang Yi for no reason, but to cause trouble. He had come to collude with the squire to cause trouble for Jiang Yi so that he could create opportunities for Cao Ying, who was behind him.
It turned out that ever since Jiang Yi occupied Fukang County City and wiped out Marshal Xu's remaining troops, Cao Ying had set his eyes on Jiang Yi. To him, it didn't matter whether it was Marshal Xu or Jiang Yi. What he wanted was Fukang County.
"Gentlemen, let me ask you a question. Are you willing to let Jiang Yi, this little brat, stand above you?”David stood and looked at all the squires.
As soon as he finished speaking, the squires under his seat began to discuss animatedly. It turned out that they were dissatisfied with Jiang Yi's non-compliance with tradition and violation of the rules when he was elected as the mayor. Moreover, when he was fighting for Master Tan's property, he had robbed all the fields and did not leave them with enough benefits. They were even more dissatisfied with this kind of behavior, but they were afraid of Jiang Yi's martial arts, so they did not dare to openly oppose Jiang Yi.
Seeing that the squires were interested, David added fuel to the fire.
"Gentlemen, Jiang Yi's actions are already forcing you to forcefully rent the land. He is using a soft knife to cut your flesh. If you don't resist, I'm afraid that your ancestral land will fall into Jiang Yi's hands sooner or later.”
Dave's words were a little murderous. He knew very well that land was the lifeblood of these squires.
His guess was right. As soon as he finished speaking, the squire's discussion became louder.
He glanced at the crowd and a young squire nodded. He was the squire who had introduced him to Cao Ying. He had been bought over by Dave and was planning to join Cao Ying.
So he stood up and said to all the squires present,"Everyone, quiet down. Let me say something fair.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the squires stopped their discussion and looked at him in unison, wanting to know what advice a young man who had just inherited his father's family fortune had.
Looking at the young squire with such neat movements, they felt a little embarrassed.
After laughing awkwardly, he continued,"I know that all the elders have been dissatisfied with Jiang Yi for a long time, but because of the elders 'face, I am embarrassed to say this to Jiang Yi, this junior. In that case, I am the youngest here, so I will say the unpleasant words first. From today onwards, I do not intend to sell the grain in my family's fields to Jiang Yi.”
His words were beautiful, giving face to the squire and saying what was on their minds.
Seeing that someone had taken the lead to express their stance, the remaining squires nodded one after another, saying that they did not intend to sell the grain to Jiang Yi.
Under this " harmonious atmosphere," someone silently stood up and said," Jiang Yi has a gun in his hand, and he has already returned with thousands of people.”
These words were like a basin of cold water, directly dousing the enthusiasm of the squires, and everyone suddenly quieted down.
Yes, Jiang Yi had a gun in his hand!
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。