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Managing the public fields was a lucrative job, with ample opportunity for manipulation. Especially in disaster years, out of a thousand acres of public land, only more than ten might suffer from floods. Yet, the managing officials might report that a hundred acres of good land were affected.

The government would send people to check.

At that time, a little bribe could make the inspectors help to falsely report the disaster.

If the inspectors couldn’t be bribed, there were other methods.

One only had to collude with the local field protectors and spokesmen. By leading the inspectors through the genuinely affected fields a couple of times, they could easily be deceived.

This year, there was no need to lie about the disaster at all, as the locust plague devastated indiscriminately, attacking all the crops within the fields.

The public fields of the government were exempt from rent.

If you had connections, renting the public fields was more economical than leasing the private fields from landlords.

The rent for public fields was usually lower than the market price.

In disaster years, landlords might halve the rent and tenants would be so grateful they’d kowtow in thanks.

If one leased public fields and they were hit by floods, droughts, or insect disasters, the government would check and accordingly reduce the rent based on the disaster. This reduction would be very generous.

In fact, ordinary peasants seldom had the chance to rent public fields.

They were mostly rented by people with various connections.

People with certain backgrounds or power.

Take the great landlord Yan Ruohai as an example. The Yan Family owned more than a thousand acres of land themselves, which they would lease out. Then, through connections, they would rent public fields.

After renting the public fields, they would likely try to lease them out again.

By doing this, they could earn at least a twenty percent profit margin.

In disaster years, there was practically no rent for the leased public fields. However, the Yan Family would still demand rent from their tenants, only reducing it slightly at most.

This way, many people could live lavishly without lifting a finger.

Qin Niu was somewhat aware of these tricks.

Previously, he was a minor character who could never touch the public fields.

Now, coming to take over a hundred acres of public fields and seeing that crops were planted, he didn’t act rashly.

Whether it was local heavyweights or the officials managing the public fields, all had a certain background and power, so he would avoid offending them as much as possible.

This had always been his way of navigating life.

“The government has awarded you these public fields, Young Master Qin?”

The older farmer asked.

The younger farmers were filled with envy.

“Indeed,”

Qin Niu nodded in confirmation.

“Alright, we’ll ask around in the village for you,”

The old farmer said with a cupped hand gesture before walking away, hoe on his shoulder.

Before long, a middle-aged man dressed in green brocade arrived in a horse-drawn carriage.

The carriage was quite luxurious with at least a copper-roofed canopy. It was wide enough to comfortably seat three to four people. The horse pulling the carriage, astonishingly, was a Sweaty Precious Horse.

It was simply extravagant to use such a fine horse for pulling a carriage.

After the carriage came to a stop, the coachman deftly jumped down from the shaft, positioned a stepping stool, and respectfully assisted the middle-aged man in alighting.

He addressed the man as Fourth Master He.

This indicated the arrival of a high-level member of the He Family.

“I am Fourth of the Pang Family, also known as Fourth Master, currently overseeing the He Family’s agricultural land and planting. I have indeed heard of the Insect Master of Shuangfeng Village, Qin Niu. No doubt, you must be Master Qin himself?”

Upon descending from the carriage, Fourth Pang looked Qin Niu up and down before greeting him with a bow,

He seemed polite, but his demeanor was filled with arrogance.

The offspring of these major families were proud to the core.

Being born with a golden spoon in their mouths and treated with privilege, they habitually looked down on others.

The phrase ‘nose in the air’ aptly described these people.

“I dare not claim to be a master, I am the Insect Master Qin Niu,”

Qin Niu replied cautiously.

After all, the He Family was an even more ancient family than the Yan Family.

“Are all these public farmlands now owned by Master Qin?”

“Yes.”

Qin Niu nodded again.

“Is it possible to discuss with Master Qin that these public farmlands have always been rented and farmed by our He Family? Look, crops are already planted in the fields. We can exchange other lands with you. How about that?”

Fourth of the He Family sure has a bold face.

These hundred acres of public farmland are all good land, with even more than ten acres of rich black soil.

How could one just switch them so easily?

“May I ask which lands Fourth of the He Family is prepared to exchange?”

Qin Niu didn’t immediately refuse.

The other party had already planted crops, and that’s a fact.

Furthermore, Fourth of the He Family mentioned that the He Family had been renting these public farmlands consistently.

Since ancient times, there has been a custom that buying and selling should not break a rental agreement, and both sides should resolve issues amicably through negotiation.

“The lands over there belong to our He Family; we can directly allocate a hundred acres to Master Qin, would that be acceptable?”

Fourth of the He Family pointed to a large stretch of fields across the river.

There, the terrain was flat, bordered by the river on one side and mountains on the other.

The quality of these farmlands was far inferior to Qin Niu’s hundred acres of good land. The fields near the river were clearly prone to flooding.

Whenever the summer river levels rise, floodwaters will spill over the embankments, inundating vast areas of farmland.

The floods would carry silt that would wash into the fields.

Therefore, the soil of this kind of field is known as sandy loam.

Take a handful carefully, and it crumbles with just a gentle squeeze.

Despite its loose and moist nature with good water retention, a large component of its soil is sand, not clay.

This results in poor decomposition capability, difficulties in retaining nutrients, and extremely bad aeration.

Crops planted here go yellow and wither, and won’t grow taller than two feet in half a year.

Moreover, many large willow trees, planted as embankment protectors, line both sides of the river, casting shade over the nearby fields.

That is another significant drawback.

Without sunlight, a plant’s photosynthesis is severely inhibited, and growth inevitably suffers. The plants become weak, susceptible to disease, and yield less.

And as for the fields at the foot of the mountain, the peaks lie to the south, and as everyone knows, when building a house, it should face south.

Rooms facing south are commonly used as the master bedrooms.

They have good natural light and abundant sunshine, making them comfortable to live in.

The same principle applies to crops.

A substantial amount of sunlight is blocked by the mountains, and at least thirty or forty out of that hundred acres of farmland are under the shadow of the peaks.

The crops that grow in these fields tend to be spindly and etiolated, characterized by their tender, thin, green shoots. They have very weak resistance to disease, poor lodging resistance, and low yield.

Qin Niu was not ignorant about farming. After one glance at the fields pointed out by Fourth of the He Family, without a second thought, he directly refused, “If Fourth of the He Family is sincere about exchanging, please show some sincerity. If the He Family is unwilling to exchange lands of equal quality, I wouldn’t mind renting these lands to the He Family for another year at the market rate, which certainly won’t cost your He Family too much.”

These words were spoken with considerable grace.

Fourth of the He Family claimed he wanted to exchange lands, but what they offered – average quality fields for his high-quality farmland – was nothing short of taking advantage of his youth and inexperience.

Qin Niu remained calm and proposed a solution, which showed generous patience on his part.

“Those lands are also good farmland, just like yours, and my offer demonstrates ample sincerity. My He Family has been established in Jade Stream Town for over eight hundred years, and it has only ever been we who rented lands out, never a tradition of us renting farmland from others. If Master Qin feels the fields I offer are not as good as these, I can give you an additional five acres. One hundred and five acres in exchange for your hundred acres.

That is the utmost sincerity of my He Family.”

Fourth of the He Family spoke with a touch of arrogance, brooking no discussion or rejection.

“The He Family has never rented anyone else’s farmland? Aren’t these public farmlands rented?”

Qin Niu curled his lip.

The smile on his face had long since faded.

Respect is mutual.

He had been resolving things with a smile, but with Fourth of the He Family leveraging their old family status and trying to take advantage of him, a newly emerged small landlord, he naturally couldn’t continue to indulge them.

Without a backbone, one is only treated as a pushover to be easily bullied.