Your Majesty said that my life is worthless, so why are you crying when I increase my troops?

In the end, with the gratitude of all the villagers in Xujia Village, Xia Mingyuan took over more than 700 households in the village, totaling 11,000 acres of land.

As a condition, Xia Mingyuan signed a document with the villagers.

As long as the crops in the fields this year are not stolen by bandits, the villagers will hand over 50% of their share to him.

If the crops were stolen by bandits, Xia Mingyuan would ensure food rations for all the villagers, with two kilograms of food per person per day.

In addition, the ownership of the land was transferred to Xia Mingyuan.

Even before coming here, Xia Mingyuan repeatedly reminded himself in his heart that kindness cannot command the army and righteousness cannot command finances, but when he saw the document prepared by the village head according to the market conditions, which could almost be called a predatory treaty, he still blushed.

The people of Hanyang really have a hard life!

In order to have a stable meal, not only do they have to voluntarily donate their own land, but they also have to hand over 50% of the grain they have worked hard to grow every year!

"Master Xia, please take a look at this document. Is there anything else you need to add? If not, we will all come and sign it one by one."

Xu Shuigen's voice was a little nervous. He had heard from other families who had given away their land that many large landlords had increased their share from 50% to 70%. Some even changed the food rations distributed after the grain was snatched away to two kilograms per family per day.

Because of one word difference, I don’t know how many people would starve to death!

Xia Mingyuan stared at the document for a long time and couldn't help but sigh.

"Mr. Xia, if you feel there is anything inappropriate, I will change it now." Seeing this, Xu Shui quickly wiped the sweat from his head and said nervously.

Xia Mingyuan shook his head and said in a deep voice, "There's nothing wrong with the receipt. How about this? You add two more clauses."

"First, starting today, I will provide the money and manpower to build a large canteen in the village. Everyone's three meals a day will be provided by me. No matter how the harvest is this year, or whether it's stolen by bandits, I will ensure that no one will go hungry."

"Also, after deducting the share you hand in, you can sell the remaining grain to me each year. I'll charge you the grain market price per kilogram. Now that you've given me the land, if anyone needs money urgently, they can come to me and make up for it when the grain harvest arrives next year."

"what?"

"Mr. Xia, did I hear you correctly?"

Hearing what Xia Mingyuan said, Xu Shuigen almost dropped his jaw in shock. He grinned and couldn't believe his ears for a moment.

No matter how you look at it, these two points added by Master Xia are of absolute benefit to the villagers and have no harm at all.

Especially since each pound of grain is sold according to the price at the grain store, the people will probably earn thirty or forty cents more per pound of grain than in previous years.

And as for the big dining hall, if it is true as Mr. Xia said, and there is food to eat all year round, how much food would be saved?

Lu Xiucai was also a little surprised. He looked hesitant and wanted to remind his son that the benefits this would bring to the villagers far exceeded those of any landlord in Hanyang.

What's more, this is land that no one wants.

But before he could say anything, Xia Mingyuan said calmly, "My troops stationed nearby also need to eat. We have to build a canteen anyway. It would be better if the troops were stationed with you so that the people can concentrate on working in the fields."

"But I'll have to trouble the village head to find thirty or fifty capable village women to cook for the big canteen. As for their wages, I'll give them five taels of silver per month."

"Remember to find some honest people, don't do anything dirty, in the end it's my soldiers and the villagers who will suffer!"

"That's nature, that's nature."

Xu Shuigen nodded repeatedly and almost knelt down to Xia Mingyuan.

Just for cooking a meal, I was given five taels of silver, and food and accommodation were provided.

If word of this job gets out, I'm afraid all the men will rush to do it.

"Okay, that's it. You add these clauses and have the villagers come over to sign and seal it."

Xu Shuigen was writing furiously. At this moment, Cuilan, who had been standing by without saying a word, finally spoke weakly, "Master Xia, you said before that you could give me an advance..."

Xia Mingyuan smiled and said, "That's right. If anyone needs money urgently, they can come to me for an advance. When the grain is harvested next year, they can use it to pay me back."

Cuilan finally mustered up the courage and asked, "Can I use next year's grain from my family to advance five taels of silver?"

"My house was robbed and smashed by bandits a while ago. Even the kettle and pots and pans are borrowed from neighbors. Don't worry, sir. I will return them as soon as the food arrives."

Xia Mingyuan turned around and glanced at Lu Xiucai.

The latter immediately understood and hurriedly took out the silver from his pocket. However, after searching for a long time, he realized that he had no chance of bringing five taels of silver with him when he went out with Master Xia. Apart from dozens of silver notes, he only had two ten-tael silver ingots left.

Seeing this, Xia Mingyuan took a silver ingot and handed it to Cuilan.

"Here are ten taels. Take them for now, and return me a hundred jins of grain next year."

Cuilan didn't expect Xia Mingyuan to be so generous and give her ten taels of silver as soon as he said so. Her eyes immediately turned red and she was about to kneel down and kowtow to Xia Mingyuan, but was quickly stopped by Xia Mingyuan.

"It's just an advance of money. You don't owe me anything. There's no need to do this."

As he was speaking, the village head had already drafted the document.

Soon, villagers came to the door one after another. Most of them could not write, so they just pressed their fingerprints on their names.

While signing the document, Xia Mingyuan suddenly thought of something.

"By the way, old village chief, I see there are a lot of mountains here. There must be a lot of hunters in the village, right?"

Xu Shuigen bowed and stood aside, quickly replying, "Master Xia, in the past, during the off-season in Xujia Village, there were at least one or two hundred hunters. Every year, they could produce tens of thousands of pounds of meat just from hunting. Every household could enjoy some meat occasionally."

"But now that the Cold Blade Village has announced that the four nearby mountains belong to them, no one dares to go hunting in the mountains anymore."

Xia Mingyuan was silent for a while. "Well, you count the number of people and report the list to Lu Xiucai. Maybe after a while, we can all go hunting in the mountains. I will buy the prey at the market price."

"Lao Lu, go buy some more laying hens tomorrow and give each household four chickens and two piglets. I'll buy back the eggs and pork at the market price."

"The army and the people can't just eat rice and flour; they must be guaranteed meat!"

Xu Shuigen widened his eyes and looked Xia Mingyuan up and down.

"What's wrong? Old headman, is there any problem?"

Xia Mingyuan turned around and looked at the old village chief who had a shocked face.

Xu Shuigen shook his head repeatedly with excitement.

"Sir, my eyes were blurry and I didn't see your true face clearly. You must be a Bodhisattva from heaven, a kind-hearted person who has come down to earth to save the people of Xujia Village!"

"I'm here to kowtow to you, sir, on behalf of the villagers!"

With tears in his eyes, Xu Shuigen was about to kneel down and kowtow to Xia Mingyuan despite being stopped.