Chapter 1042: Greed Is Not Enough (3)
Don’t underestimate that ten percent of the harvest; even without Spirit Spring Water, the villagers of Chen Family Village still produced an astounding 1,100 jin per mu of high-yield rice. That ten percent is 110 jin, which amounts to a third of the yield from previous years—and much more than the ten percent they used to skim off for themselves.
With that ten percent, families cultivating two hundred mu of rice paddies each gained an additional four hundred jin of rice. This four hundred jin of rice, if traded for cheaper coarse grains, could roughly turn into eight hundred jin, enough to feed a family of five for a quarter of the year.
Zhao Dafu had quietly enjoyed the benefits for ten years, accumulating more grain from his small share from each family than what a single main tenant could get. The tenants simply didn’t believe he had the courage to forgo those benefits and refused to hand over the remaining ten percent, no matter what.
Because of this, some people even threatened Zhao Dafu in private, but he, no longer having any concerns, was not afraid and even subtly informed the new master of Tianzhuang about their actions.
Without any leverage over Zhao Dafu, the tenants, worried they would not be able to rent land next year if they caused any trouble, reluctantly made up the remaining ten percent of the rent. They bitterly carried home the grains that belonged to them, along with the coarse grain they had obtained from Zhao Dafu.
Later, when these people came to ask Zhao Dafu about the preparations for the autumn tillage, he told them there were other arrangements and asked them not to worry, hinting in a diplomatic way that the rented lands were going to be reclaimed.