Chapter 57: Acceleration Sprint Spirit Platform Boundary (Patreon)

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In her heart, she was thinking, "How can Fourth Uncle be so good to me?" But her expression was one of extreme joy, saying, "Fourth Uncle, you're really too kind to me."

"Our family's Li Ci is still very well-behaved, and if you work hard, Fourth Uncle has other rewards for you," Wang Shoujie said with a smile, rubbing her head. "For example, those delicious little fish crisps."

Hmph, Even as a young girl, Wang Lici had her dignity, and she wouldn't be bought off by some little fish crisps...

But as soon as she spoke, her eyes lit up, and she exclaimed, "Fourth Uncle, Fourth Uncle, how many rewards can I get?"

"I'll let you handle the seafood snacks I brought back this time," Wang Shoujie said generously.

"Waaah~ Fourth Uncle, you're really too good to me." Wang Lici was so excited that tears fell from her eyes, and she gazed at Wang Shoujie, feeling that she shouldn't have doubted Fourth Uncle in her heart, and she definitely shouldn't have hit him. Where could she find such a good Fourth Uncle?

"Yes, Fourth Uncle believes you can handle it, and you must distribute it fairly to everyone," Wang Shoujie added. "These snacks, everyone in our family under 20 years old will get one share. You've studied arithmetic and accounting, so you know how to divide it evenly. Remember to get everyone to sign their name in the ledger."

Fair Equal Distribution!

And she had to personally deliver the precious snacks to each household, which was utterly ruthless and cruel!

Fourth Uncle, you're too much, I'll fight you to the end...

Unfortunately, after Wang Shoujie finished speaking, he had already disappeared from her sight.

Leaving behind the young girl holding several books, her hair disheveled in the wind.

……

Wang Shoujie returned to his own courtyard, not doing anything else, but taking a short rest. This trip to the Hundred Island Guard had left him physically and mentally exhausted.

Fortunately, the dangers had passed, and as long as Ancestor Longyan's body recovered, the Ping'an Wang Clan would have a solid foundation.

A quiet night passed.

The next day, Wang Shoujie met with Mother Gong Sunhui, settling accounts and storing away goods. In a large family like theirs, the accounts couldn't be messy, or it would lead to all sorts of problems.

As Gong Sunhui did the accounting, she was also shocked by the series of surprising events and gains. Why did Wang Shoujie always bring back unexpected surprises whenever he went out?

"Mother, I'm not ashamed to be the first in sequence," Wang Shoujie said with a smile. "In terms of resources, I'll prepare to be a bit extravagant. I'll increase my monthly spirit food supply by two times, from one Minor Nourishing Pill to three, and I'll need one Peiyuan Pill each month, as well as a temporary use of one Spirit Stone."

In this way, Wang Shoujie's resource usage had reached an extremely extravagant level. Just the spirit rice alone was 15 pounds per month, and the spirit fish and spiritual meat were each 15 pounds.

Adding in the consumption of elixirs and other items, not counting Spirit Stones, his annual cultivation resources would reach 800-900 gold. Normally, after advancing to the seventh layer of the Qi Refining Realm, his annual cultivation resource budget would be at most 200-300 gold, but now it was directly four times that Four to five times the resources wouldn't make Wang Shoujie's cultivation speed four to five times faster. There was a principle of diminishing marginal returns at play, and at most, it would only be one to two times faster, and with the help of Spirit Stones, it would be at most one more level faster, definitely not three times faster.

An ordinary martial arts family, even if they were cultivating a first-in-sequence son, aiming for the Spirit Realm, would absolutely not be so extravagant.

Such a requirement would even make Gong Sunhui's eyes widen in surprise: "Logically speaking, with your merits, applying for so many cultivation resources is not unreasonable. I'm just afraid that the thrifty elder generation might have some opinions. However, with Ancestor Longyan's support, no one would dare to speak out against you."

The Wang Clan was a family that belonged to everyone, not just Patriarch Wang Shoujie alone. The other patriarchs naturally had the right to express their opinions.

However, Wang Shoujie didn't care. With his abilities, the clan would gradually enter a transformation phase. Moreover, if the contribution system were to be implemented, Ancestor Longyan would undoubtedly be first, and he would be second. He even believed that his future contributions would surpass Ancestor Longyan's.

Using so many resources wasn't because he was greedy, but because he didn't want to wait until middle age to have the opportunity to break through to the Spirit Realm. The most important thing was that this Fantasy World was too dangerous, and with his current cultivation, running around everywhere would eventually lead to problems.

Therefore, it was better to stay safe within the clan and accelerate his cultivation to the Spirit Realm to gain some self-preservation abilities.

After settling this matter, Wang Shoujie asked again, "Mother, how's the insect plague situation?"

He had been away from Changning Guard for ten days, and the intelligence had already fallen behind. The situation at Hundred Island Guard was different, with very little arable land opened up, possibly due to geographical environmental factors, and they hadn't suffered any disasters.

However, food shortages had already become a certainty, and even Hundred Island Guard would be affected by the lack of grain.

"The situation is very grim," Gong Sunhui said with a serious expression. "Except for a limited number of families, all the others have had a reduction in grain production. But the ones who suffered the most were the self-farming peasants within the city walls and townships, who had a 70% reduction in production."

Wang Shoujie's eyebrows slightly furrowed: "A 70% reduction is a huge loss, but with stored grain and new grain, can't the self-farming peasants hold on until the next harvest season? It shouldn't be as bad as tenant farmers, right?"

"You don't know, Wang Shoujie," Gong Sunhui explained. "Firstly, let me tell you about tenant farmers. Tenant farmer families usually have one to six or seven people. Let's take an average tenant farmer family of three, with two laborers, husband and wife. They should be able to cultivate about 20 acres of land, with a total value of around 600 copper per year. The insecticide powder would cost around 40 copper, and the oxen, farm tools, and seed expenses would be around 20 copper. Our clan's fertile farmland uses the Four-Tax System, with each level of government taking one tax, so 20 acres of fertile farmland would require 80 copper in taxes. This would leave around 460 copper, which would need to be split 70-30 with the landlord, leaving the tenant farmer with around 138 copper in profit."

"A three-person tenant farmer family would make around one gold coin more per year, which, after daily expenses, wouldn't leave much." Wang Shoujie rubbed his nose, feeling a bit surprised. He had calculated the income from farmland before but hadn't detailed the tenant farmers' earnings.

"Tenant farmers can withstand risks better because they have the Martial Clan's backing," Gong Sunhui said. "To stabilize tenant farmers' work, the landlord would guarantee them a minimum income, even if the harvest was poor, they would still get around 60 copper, which would allow them to work with peace of mind."

Of course, these earnings weren't purely in gold coins but included allocated goods and gold, with a comprehensive account value.

"Moreover, tenant farmers would also raise some chickens, ducks, and geese, and plant some fruits and vegetables in their front and back yards, which would supply our clan, adding around 20-30 copper to their annual income," Gong Sunhui patiently explained. "During the slack season, we would also organize tenant farmers to do land reclamation, river dredging, house building, and riverbank reinforcement, which would add around 20 copper. So, an average three-person tenant farmer family would make around 180-190 copper per year, even in a disaster year, they could still make over 100 copper."

Wang Shoujie nodded silently, thinking that tenant farmers' lives were still relatively stable, thanks to the landlord's protection. Even in a disaster year, they could tighten their belts and get by. If it was a good year, they could save some copper coins.

"But self-farming peasants are different," Gong Sunhui said. "Like the tenant farmer family I mentioned earlier, a self-farming peasant with 20 acres of land would only have 90 copper in income this season, with a 70% reduction. They would need to deduct 10 copper for oxen rental and seeds, 20 copper for insecticide powder, and 50 copper in taxes, using the Five-Tax System. How much would they have left?"

As mentioned earlier, the local Martial Clan had the responsibility of pacifying the people and defending the land, dealing with bandits and ferocious beasts, and assisting the local government in collecting taxes. Therefore, the taxes on fertile farmland within their territory would also be collected by the clan.

However, the Wang Clan's territory was currently very small, with only around 600 tenant farmer households and a total of around 1,000 households under their jurisdiction, with a total of less than 20,000 acres of arable land. The annual tax revenue was only around a hundred gold coins, with many expenses, barely making ends meet.

"So, those self-farming peasants would basically have nothing left this season?" Wang Shoujie asked, frowning slightly. "In this situation, would they still need to pay taxes?"

"Taxes are the foundation of the country, and the town, guard, county, and national governments all rely on taxes to function. Land taxes are the largest tax category, and without them, the various levels of government would struggle to maintain themselves," Gong Sunhui explained. "This summer harvest, Longzu County's national tax might be waived. However, ultimately, some self-farming peasant families who didn't manage well would still face great difficulties, and during such times, some Martial Clans would start to annex land."

"For example, the Zhao Clan and Liu Clan, who suffered greatly from the disaster and losses, are now eyeing the land hungrily. Various signs indicate that they want to take advantage of the chaos to annex some land," Gong Sunhui said with a cold laugh. "Wolves are still wolves, even if they wear a clan's skin; they can't escape their greedy nature."

[Heartfelt thankyou for the support! SlaySaga]

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