Chapter 558： punish

,!

"The new village management organization—I decided to call it the village management committee, rather than the previous farm cooperative, it must manage all aspects of the village, such as household registration management, public affairs, disaster preparedness, and even marriage Funerals, weddings, mediation of conflicts between neighbors, all these things are the responsibility of the village committee. Of course, this can’t be done by one person, so we need to form a committee.”

Paul talked freely about his grassroots governance policies.

"And it will also represent me, an extension of my mouth, eyes and ears, capable of quickly, resolutely and forcefully conveying the spirit and will from Huxin Town, and at the same time, it can quickly convey all the things in the village to the truth. , Feedback to Huxin Town in its original form.”

It has to be said that this is a very idealized statement, and it can even be said to be a bit nonsensical. Paul's vision is impossible to realize on the earth in the 21st century, let alone in this world that has not yet fully stepped out of the Middle Ages, it is a fantasy. But it is always right to work hard in this direction, and we must take the first step.

As Paul said just now, the functions of the village committee cannot be performed by one or two clerks. After hearing this, Old Ford frowned tightly, "Lord Graman, this will definitely greatly increase our administrative duties. cost."

"Then expand our administrative staff."

"Uh... finances."

"No, issue bonds!"

Paul yelled, "Anyway, our fiscal revenue has been growing! And I believe that after this reform, our economy will be more active and healthier - by unleashing rural productivity and consumption power."

Paul continued to talk eloquently: "To tell you the truth, according to my point of view, our countryside is extremely abnormal. Yes, we have had no legal slaves for nearly a thousand years, but all kinds of unreasonable rules and regulations are Perpetuate de facto slavery. I think everyone knows that."

"The powerful families in those villages—the most typical is the Warren family in this rebellion, ah, and Fergus—they own vast fields, accumulate wealth from generation to generation, and hold tax collections for generations. Power, setting up punishments according to one's own will, adjudicating the big and small affairs in the village, isn't this the de facto lord of the village where I live? And I, the real lord, can only convey my orders and collect taxes through them, and the peasants It is only through them that my will can be fed back to me. It seems that my orders can only be unimpeded in a few cities, which is simply unreasonable."

Speaking of this, Paul was full of resentment.

In the Northwest Gulf, the rural manor owners took advantage of various tangible and intangible privileges to turn the vast number of farmers into their own de facto slaves. For example, rent out your own land to those poor landless peasants, and then charge unreasonably high rents, leaving the peasants with only a little grain to feed their hunger, making them unable to expand their operations, and depriving them of the opportunity to accumulate wealth , can only rely on renting their fields to survive. Another example is the method of usury, especially combined with their previous status as taxpayers. The snowball is getting bigger and bigger. Some peasant families even owe debts for generations. They don’t know when they will be able to pay it off. debtor's wife and daughter. Not only do farmers owe debts when taxes are collected, but when harvests are bad or natural disasters occur, it is also when the countryside borrows frequently. The ability of ordinary farmers to resist risks is very low.

Do you want to pay off your debt? Or want to escape debt? Sorry, but in the village the word of the landlord is the law.

In short, the landlords used various means to force the peasants to depend on themselves and firmly bound the peasants to their own land.

The agricultural technology that Paul vigorously promoted in the past few years has greatly increased the area of ​​arable land and harvest, but most of the increase has fallen into the pockets of rural landlords. The only benefit for ordinary farmers seems to be that there are no large numbers of people starved to death. up.

Paul sent stewards to the countryside, established farm societies, set up circuit courts to adjudicate lawsuits for farmers, and prohibited private executions. The situation improved somewhat, but there was no fundamental change.

The large number of factories established by Paul provided farmers who left the countryside with a second way to support themselves, but the power of tradition is strong, and a large number of farmers are still bound.

"Look..." Paul spread his hands angrily, and said to one of his subordinates: "This time, I just want to take back a little bit of power in their hands - taxation and justice. They are like vicious dogs guarding food. The sharp canine teeth rushed towards me viciously and bit me."

"So I decide!"

He clenched his fists vigorously and fiercely, and there was no doubt in his tone.

"Since they are so ignorant of current affairs, then I will completely deprive them of all privileges! Note that is all privileges."

"In addition to abolishing the tax system and taking back judicial power. I want to intensify, yes, I want to intensify!"]

"First of all, I want to reduce the interest rate and rent. For the land rent collected from the tenant farmers, I want to set a maximum ratio. In short, it must not be so high that I only leave rations for the farmers, and I want to leave them with seeds that can be cultivated in the next year. We must leave them commodity grains that can be traded in the market, and allow farmers to sell the grains for money, and then use the money from selling grains to buy other commodities that they want, so that they can actually improve their lives through farming, and Not just survival. Then there is private lending. I will set a reasonable interest rate so that hardworking people cannot repay it. For those old debts that already exist, I will send someone to review them one by one, Mohu I will burn them all if they are unclear or the interest is outrageous. For those who really cannot pay off their debts, as long as their descendants publicly renounce the right of inheritance, then there is no need to inherit the debts, and the debts will not continue from generation to generation. "

"Then, I have to set up the Agricultural Bank!"

ABC? This word has aroused the interest of everyone here.

"Agricultural Bank will provide loans to farmers at extremely low interest rates." Paul explained, "If farmers encounter natural disasters, poor grain harvests and other unlucky times, they can ask for loans from Agricultural Bank instead of those vampire-like private lenders. people."