In the morning, at the Jinkou on the Yongji Canal, the "commercial street" beside the wharf was noisy. Small vendors from nearby areas came here to buy a large amount of Muwei's cheap daily necessities and sell them to surrounding areas.

The Yongji Canal was only open to navigation at the beginning of the year, but before that, after the canal was opened from the south to the boundary of Beizhou, merchants had already gone north along the canal, setting up Caoshi along the way, purchasing or selling goods.

Small vendors in the canal are very familiar with these grass markets. Now that the grass market is regularized and becomes a "commercial street", more businesses have settled in, which greatly facilitates the small vendors to do business.

While doing business, many residences also operate accommodation and provide food for accommodation business travelers. However, now "inns" specializing in food and accommodation have appeared in the "commercial street", which has made business travelers traveling between the north and the south more convenient.

The government also sent people here to maintain public order and crack down on illegal activities, so that although there were many people in Tianjin, they were in order.

Since ancient times, it has been easy to gather popularity at the junction of water and land, and there are people who are deliberately guiding it, so the newly born Jinkou along the Yongji Canal soon became lively in a short time.

Dou Jiande, the village chief who had been acquainted with Jinkou, looked at the bustling crowd in front of him and felt as if he was in a small town, which was more prosperous and lively than the scene he saw last time.

The digging and navigation of Yongji Canal have indeed changed the appearance of my hometown. It is precisely because of Yongji Canal that foreign merchants transported a large amount of grain and sold it at low prices, which directly led to the decline in local grain prices year by year.

It is precisely because of the Jinkou that many businesses have settled in, which gives the surrounding people another way out to make a living. Even if they don’t work here, they can also make a profit by carrying vegetables, fruits, and chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and sheep.

Therefore, grain prices continue to fall, which is good for people who do not farm but are able to make money. As long as there is no shortage of food on the market, even if they are just helping with servants and work, they will not have to worry about food at home.

Also, because the cloth price is also very cheap, you don’t have to worry about wearing it.

Dou Jiande heard from knowledgeable people that "the high grain is harmful to the people" and "the low grain is harmful to the farmers". In order to protect the people and farmers, the government needs to set up "constant liquidation warehouses" to "equal" grain prices.

Such an official warehouse must purchase the grain in the hands of farmers at a higher price when the grain prices are low, which will enrich the warehouse and ensure the most basic income of farmers, so as not to go bankrupt in a good year.

When the food prices rise sharply due to natural disasters, the official warehouse will sell food at a lower price to ensure that those civilians who are short of money can have a bite of food.

There seems to be such "constant liquidation" in the government today, but the government sat on the decline in grain prices and let the grain be low and hurt the farmers, causing the farmers to end their journey and be forced to rent the fields to those trading companies.

This is the so-called collusion between officials and businessmen, and corrupt officials and tyrants jointly bully kind farmers.

Dou Jiande thought so, and was very angry. He felt that since ancient times, the people should have farmed men and weaved women and lived a good life of self-sufficiency.

Although I am not selling my own land to wealthy families, I rented out the land like a wife. I still have to go to workshops, workshops, shops, trading houses, docks, and the beautiful life of men and women woving is gone.

But Dou Jiande was helpless. Such a situation could not be changed by his small family. However, farmers like Sun Wanquan rented out the land and counted the money with a smile. Dou Jiande saw such a sad thing and felt uncomfortable.

At the beginning, Dou Jiande made up his mind that even if the food price was low, his family would never rent out the land. It would be a bullshit contract or ten years to hand over the land to others. It would be easy to hand over it, but it would be difficult to take it back.

Growing grain is not cost-effective, it doesn’t matter. You can change to plant vegetables, fruits, and then sell them in Tianjin. Use the money you earn to buy rice and cloth?

Sun Wanquan and others thought so, but found that it would not work because the prices of vegetables, fruits and melons are not high.

One of the reasons is that there are more people who want to make money by selling vegetables, fruits and vegetables, so they compete to lower the price, resulting in the price not rising;

The second reason is that those trading companies that rent a large amount of land have set up "new-style farms" and plant a large number of vegetables, fruits and melons, which also lead to a drop in prices.

Therefore, growing vegetables, fruits and melons cannot afford to raise land. Only by planting dye crops such as bluegrass (used to squeeze indigo) or rapeseed that can be squeezed into oil can it be sold at a better price.

This idea is good, but it doesn't work either.

First of all, Dou Jiande and the villagers have never planted bluegrass or rapeseed. They have poor family backgrounds and cannot afford the consequences of poor harvest or even non-capture due to improper planting;

Secondly, they have no seeds and can only buy them from trading companies. The price of selling seeds for trading companies is not cheap. Even if they are planted, they have no place to sell them and can only sell them to merchants in various industries, and the other party will naturally lower the purchase price.

After all the calculations, no matter how you farm, the only way to do it is to rent the land to a trading company and go out to work on it yourself.

Just like the choice of Sun Wanquan's family and other villagers.

Of course there is another way, that is, doing business or running workshops, but Dou Jiande knew that he was not the material.

His family has been farming for generations and has never done business. If they do business, they will inevitably become a profiteer, have a bad reputation, and cannot raise their heads in front of their fellow villagers.

If you open a workshop, there is no way, let alone sales, so Dou Jiande has been worried about this period of time.

The land passed down by our ancestors is really unwilling to rent it out, but if this continues, his family will not last long.

Although Dou Jiande's family had land, he could not afford to hire a tenant farmer. He had to go to the fields to do farm work frequently in order to save money. He would rather be tired than spend money in vain.

But now...

Looking at the lively scene in front of him, Dou Jiande didn't know where to go. At the beginning, his determination to never rent a land was gradually loosening. After all, this is the reality, and his determination cannot be used as a meal.

He didn't understand any great principles and had no knowledge. After thinking about it, he felt that in the end, he would only be like Sun Wanquan.

If you really can’t live your life and you can’t bear to let go, you have to “marry” if you “marry”. If you don’t make ends meet, you can only borrow money and then you will be profitable and you will not be able to save the land.

Even if they are hard and do not surrender, the family will starve to death and the land will be seized later.

Dou Jiande, who had been lucky enough to go to Jinkou to find a way out, had no choice but to find that there was no way out at all.

After thinking about it, instead of joining the big family with people and land, and then not being able to turn over and be slaves for generations, it is better to rent the land to a trading company and at least protect the ownership of the land.

Just like "marrying a wife".

To draw such a conclusion, Dou Jiande felt bitter and looked at the Grand Canal in front of him, and he was quite indignant: Back then, the government recruited them to serve labor and build the Grand Canal, and this section of the river was dug together.

Unexpectedly, those abominable merchants came along the canal to commit crimes. Dou Jiande really felt like he was suffering on his own.

While he was depressed, he suddenly saw an acquaintance in the crowd. The acquaintance was not handsome, of medium figure, and had a expressionless face, but Li Liangtian, who had committed suicide and fled abroad.

Li Liangtian killed the bully who came to collect debts and fled his hometown afterwards. At that time, the government was very anxious to arrest him. Li Liangtian, who was desperate, secretly protected Dou Jiande, and escaped from the pursuit. Finally, he left a foreign land. From then on, there was no news.

But that is limited to ordinary people. Dou Jiande is generous and often helps fellow villagers. He has many friendships with heroes from all over the world, so he vaguely heard about Li Liangtian.

It is said that Li Liangtian became a goater and specializes in collecting money to eliminate disasters.

Li Liangtian changed from a good citizen to a ranger who licked blood from a knife. Dou Jiande could only sigh that God had no eyes. Now he saw this person suddenly appearing in front of him, and he felt a little strange.

He saw Li Liangtian, and Li Liangtian walked towards him with the crowd, but his eyes were behind Dou Jiande, as if he was staring at someone, leaning his left hand against his waist, as if holding something at his waist.

Li Liangtian is a left-handed person, Dou Jiande knew very well. Seeing the old friend like this, he was shocked to realize that there was someone following him, probably because of his subordinates, and he suddenly felt something was wrong in his heart.

I'm afraid that Li Liangtian won the benefit of anyone, so he came here to kill people and eliminate disasters.

Dou Jiande did not dare to say hello. First, the other party fled to a foreign land with a murder case, and the exposed identity would lead to the other party being noticed by the government; second, it was because he was afraid of ruining the other party's affairs.

He was about to pretend that he didn't see it, but Li Liangtian saw and recognized Dou Jiande. Then he was stunned, his eyes were set behind Dou Jiande and slowly stopped.
Chapter completed!