I, Sun Shan, and the Imperial Examination

Chapter 1426 All the hard work in farming resulted in someone else benefiting.

Sun Dingnan explained to Sun Shan the situation of the bird droppings fertilizer workshop these past few days.

He smiled and said, "Manager Wang is still at the workshop. I came back first to show the account books to the master."

After he finished speaking, he brought up the ledger, which was the ledger for the bird droppings fertilizer he had sold over the past few days.

Sun Dingnan said helplessly, "Sir, most people still buy fertilizer on credit for summer planting, and few pay in cash. They all say they're waiting to pay off their debts with grain after the autumn harvest."

The bird droppings fertilizer workshop collects payment in two ways: either by deducting payment with grain or by paying in cash.

Many people had no money, so rather than selling their grain to get money to pay off their debts, they preferred to use the grain to settle their debts directly.

Since the prices are all roughly the same, there's no need to go through the trouble.

Sun Shan was also helpless about this; the people of Yuanlu were making a profit without any investment.

If they lose money, they won't pay it back and will become deadbeats; if they make a profit, they'll drag their feet on paying it back.

In short, they never take the initiative; if the workshop forgets about this account, they'll make a profit.

Sun Shan shook his head and said with a wry smile, "We're just starting out. The people still don't really believe in us and don't have the capacity to take risks. Let's leave it at that and pay off the debts after the autumn harvest."

Then he asked, "Do any large customers buy on credit?"

Sun Dingnan became even angrier when he said this: "Rich people also come to buy on credit, but it's only because the rules don't allow it that they pay. Sigh, the richer they are, the stingier they are. If it weren't for the master's order, they wouldn't have paid at all."

Sun Shan glanced at the account book and asked, "County Magistrate Wang, did Inspector Liang's family purchase more fertilizer than during the spring planting season?"

Sun Shan specifically instructed Sun Dingnan to keep an eye on the wealthy families in the government office, just to see how they purchased fertilizer.

Hmph, someone like Magistrate Wang must have a lot of fertile land hidden away, the kind that never pays taxes.

Now it remains to be seen how he will choose.

Sun Dingnan kept this matter in mind and said in a low voice, "Sir, the Wang family is still purchasing land according to the acreage recorded in the land reclamation register, exactly the same as during the spring planting season."

It seems that Magistrate Wang chose to remain in hiding rather than return to the yamen to re-register in order to collect more rice.

Sun Shan continued, "What's the situation with Steward Wang?"

Sun Dingnan immediately understood Sun Shan's meaning, fearing that Steward Wang and County Magistrate Wang were working together to secretly steal bird droppings fertilizer.

Or they might secretly sell bird droppings fertilizer to the Wang family through clandestine means.

Sun Dingnan assured him, "Sir, Magistrate Wang and Steward Wang have no chance to collude from the inside. I keep a close eye on them every day. Besides, with the village chief and villagers of Big Bird Village around, they will be able to detect anything amiss in time."

The village chief, in particular, was more proactive than any of the employees at the bird droppings fertilizer workshop, even though he wasn't one of them.

Sun Dingnan suspected that the village chief had gotten up before dawn.

First, they would inspect the workshop, and then return to the village to work.

They come at least once a day, sometimes even two or three times.

Wow, the dedication of an undercover agent is truly admirable.

Indeed, the fact that "the village chief is Lord Sun's informant" is a well-known fact in the workshop; no one is unaware of it.

Because the village chief made it too obvious.

Other spies would always keep their activities hidden, but the village chief was different; he almost had the word "spy" engraved on his forehead, making the workers cautious and nervous in their work and daily lives, afraid of being suspected of being spies by the village chief.

Don't assume the villagers of Da Niao Village are safe. In fact, the village chief suspects everyone in the workshop, including Sun Dingnan.

Sun Shan frowned and said, "It seems that the benefits of using fertilizer are even worse than the benefits of concealing cultivated land. Sigh, I thought that the big farmers in Yuanlu County would voluntarily register their land because of fertilizer. I was too optimistic."

Sun Dingnan disagreed: "Sir, at the beginning, we were still observing for many days. Time will tell, and once things stabilize, perhaps the wealthy households will take the initiative to pay their grain taxes to the government."

Sun Shan didn't know what the big players would do, so he had to keep a close eye on the workshop to prevent a single bag of fertilizer from being lost.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "We also need to patrol around the bird droppings pit to prevent anyone from secretly digging them up for their own use. The big households have more people and more power; they might try to undermine us."

Since they can't get fertilizer from the workshop, they can find another way to steal bird droppings.

Although the huge bird droppings pit belonged to the government, it was still stolen by some people.

Sun Dingnan disagreed, saying, "Sir, the only way to get into the bird droppings pit is through Big Bird Village. If those people want to steal bird droppings, they'll have to open up a path for us back then."

Behind the bird pit is a forest. Even if I could steal bird droppings, the first step would be dealing with jackals and wild animals. And there are definitely tigers in the forest. Digging there... well, be careful you don't get killed by a tiger.

Sun Dingnan lived in the workshop and not only heard the howling of wolves, but also the occasional roar of tigers. Although the sound came from a great distance, the villagers knew it was the howl of a tiger.

Guangnan is home to South China tigers, and so is Chenzhou Prefecture. The chances of encountering a tiger in Da Niao Village are quite high.

Sun Shan glanced at the ledger briefly, then asked, "How many people bought fertilizer this time? Are there any people who don't use fertilizer?"

Speaking of this, Sun Dingnan was delighted and said happily, "Sir, this time the bird droppings fertilizer sold twice as much as during the spring planting season. The people used about 90% of it, if not 100%."

He then said helplessly, "Some people still insist on not using it, and there's nothing we can do about it."

There are many stubborn people in the world, deeply closed-minded and resistant to change. Like Sun Shan, they always have a feeling that "the treacherous people are trying to harm me," and they won't listen to any persuasion.

In such cases, the workshop can only say, "Do whatever you want, just don't tell anyone we didn't notify you," and won't do anything else.

Sun Shan smiled and said, "It's alright. It's fine as long as most people use it. It won't affect the overall situation if a few people don't use it."

Sun Dingnan pointed to another ledger and said, "Sir, the debts for spring plowing were mostly settled with grain by the people, with only a small amount of cash paid. These are the accounts that have been collected."

He paused, then continued, "The recovered grain and money are still at the fertilizer shop in town; we need to hurry and bring them back to the yamen."

After the summer harvest, the fertilizer workshops started selling fertilizer again. To buy or buy on credit, you need to settle the bill for the fertilizer used during the spring planting.

So, the people, led by their village chiefs, transported the grain they had owed to the fertilizer sales agents according to the amount owed.

So the grain and money remained at the agency and were not brought back to the county town.

They were just waiting for Sun Shan's order to send them back to the yamen.

Sun Shan carefully calculated that after using bird droppings as fertilizer, after deducting taxes, fertilizer costs, and other expenses, the yield per mu of land was only two-fifths more than before, not double.

Even if the government and workshops cleverly seized three-fifths of the farmers' harvest, they would become the biggest winners.

Seeing this, I feel sorry for the farmers. They work so hard to cultivate the land, only to have it all benefit others.

In any case, farmers will have more grain than in previous years, and the overall harvest will still be higher.

This is why Sun Shan wanted to make the cake bigger.

As the number of participants increased, individual income also rose, resulting in an overall improvement compared to previous years.