Xinshun 1730

Chapter 787 Conflict of Old and New Interests ([-])
After leaving Fu Yin Yamen, not far away is an abandoned Catholic church.

The cross has already been taken off, and the disturbance of the ban on religion will affect Fujian, Guangdong and Songjiang prefectures the most.In the past, Xu Guangqi's family was the first group of believers, and the Catholicism in Songjiang, Shanghai and other places was quite strong.

Yin Yao of Songjiang Mansion pointed to the church in the distance and said: "This church was originally donated by the granddaughter of Xu Guangqi in the previous dynasty. The Xu family is also a prominent family, and later married with the Xu family. .Afterwards, the family prospered, and when the dynasty did not ban religion, there were many people who were born with fame and fame."

"Now this place has been converted into a Salesian Church. The remaining churches are either sold or leased to textile machine owners, or leased to merchants as warehouses."

"This Songjiang Prefecture has always had the habit of drowning female infants. The Charity Church also adopts more female infants whose parents cannot bear to be drowned."

Liu Yu nodded, thinking about Nanyang's Wu Zhifan system, and asked, "Where does the money come from for the charity hall in Songjiang Mansion? Although money is common, everything can be done without money."

"Hui Jinghou. Firstly, the yamen allocates some money, and the gentry and merchants donate. But the main thing is interest money and land rent. Some official land is allocated, and the squires also manage it specifically, lending money to collect interest, and then adopting those baby girls. If The Ciyoutang in Songjiang Mansion has accumulated land by buying land in times of disaster and lending in ordinary ways over the past few years, and has accumulated [-] mu of land."

Liu Yu looked up at the abandoned church, and Xin Dao really did not control the Wu Zhi fan system, the Salesian Church system, or those begging to run free schools, the routine was the same.

Buying land, lending money, collecting rent...

Thinking about it, it's not enough to just donate that little money these days.We must find a way to make money.

Those who need help are the victims of this era.

But the method of making money by adopting them is the root cause of their harm.

The [-] mu of land, except for some official land and some donated land, was probably hoarded when land prices were cheap.

The annual rent collection is enough for several thousand taels.

It is run by a well-known local gentry, and there must be corruption.With such a large real estate, it is very easy to make accounts with the income of several thousand taels a year from rent collection and loan lending.Whether it's nine outs and thirteen returns, or big fights and small fights, there is no problem on the books.

However, something is better than nothing.

"How are these baby girls raised?"

If other high-ranking officials asked questions like inspectors, the Governor of Songjiang would probably say something polite.But he knew that Liu Yu had done many things in Wendeng, so he told the truth directly.

"Since I came here as an official, I also know that it is difficult to raise, and it costs a lot of money. And I have to hire a wet nurse. Therefore, the official thought of a way."

"Put these baby girls in the tenants' homes for foster care. At the beginning of each month, the people from the sales school will go to test and give some rice money."

"Firstly, if you get this baby girl, you can get rice money. Secondly, it is difficult for the tenants to marry a wife. If the baby girl is fostered in her family, she will be a child bride, and she will also be a daughter-in-law for her son in the future."

"In this way, most of these baby girls will survive."

"Since the government has used such means, there is also a song in the Songjiang Mansion saying: Remember that the abandoned sons are collected in the east of the city, and the tenant farmers come to visit the door on the first day of the month."

After finishing speaking, he said again: "Jinghou knows the sufferings of the people, and the people are not stupid, they are so cunning. There was an accident in the nursery in Jiaxing Mansion before. One nurse raised dozens of people, how could breastfeeding be enough? Some people thought Come up with a 'tactful' way, the sales house admits to adopting a baby girl, but asks her biological mother to take her back to raise her, and the sales house will give her a few hundred cash for her upbringing."

"It's just that, in this way, it sounds like a good idea, and it's extremely clever. It can be implemented, but it will make the abandonment of baby girls in Jiaxing Mansion even more popular: abandoning them first, entering the Salesian Church, and then taking them back, can still Who wouldn’t give up on raising money if they got money?”

"Although my method is detrimental to morality, Jinghou also knows that it is difficult to be a child bride. In addition, she was thrown in the tenant's house since she was a child. Since she has to breastfeed, she must have a son to raise with her. This one is his own, one It is nurtured, so it is a heaven and an earth."

"Being a wife at the age of seven or eight, without the support of parents, brothers and uncles, the days can be imagined."

"But even so, this method can still save a few more lives after all. It is absolutely impossible to rely on conscience when doing things below. Only conscience, but no means, it is really difficult to do things. And often the original intention is very good, but it is more difficult to do it than to do it. It’s not as good as the original intention.”

"Jiaxing Prefecture's Salesian Hospital and Songjiang Prefecture's Salesian Hospital are stronger in terms of original intentions. However, within a few years, Jiaxing Prefecture's trend of abandoning babies has intensified, but Songjiang Prefecture is slightly stronger. Minute."

Liu Yu heard the words and praised: "What you said is very true. Relatively speaking, your method is better. In Jiaxing Mansion, isn't that prompting everyone to abandon their babies? After the abandoned babies are brought back to be raised, how much is gained in vain Who would not give up a hundred coins?"

"It's just that your method is treating the symptoms but not the root cause. Do you think that if you want the trend of abandoning baby girls in Songjiang Mansion to decrease, is there a cure for the root cause?"

The Governor of Songjiang Prefecture thought for a while, and then said: "If we talk about the solution to the root cause, the lower officials have seen some clues. The industry and commerce of Songjiang Prefecture is advancing day by day, and women are good at spinning and weaving. If there are more exports of cotton and silk in the future , Raising a daughter can also make money, and the trend of abandoning girls may be alleviated. However, when you are married at fourteen, you will also do things for your in-law's family when you marry, and the money you earn will not be given to your parents, which is hard to say."

"Unless in the future, the Songjiang Mansion will change its customs again, so that the family raises a daughter to marry in twenty squares, in order to save more money for the family's spinning and weaving. If this is the case, the abandonment of baby girls may be less .”

He was also from the Wude Palace, and was released by the courtiers as an official next to the emperor.Liu Yu can be regarded as a "role model" who was born in the Martial Virtue Palace in recent years. The Governor of Songjiang Mansion has done a lot of research on how Liu Yu made his fortune.

In addition, the matter of Songjiang Mansion is closely related to Liu Yu.What is good at the top will be effective at the bottom.

Just like the naval officers from Jinghai Palace, the gifts they gave Liu Yu were either stones or local animal and plant specimens.The Governor of Songjiang also knew that Liu Yu liked to talk about practical knowledge and do practical things, not to mention how he would do it on weekdays, since he came out with Liu Yu today, when he spoke, he seemed to be purely doing practical things.

He got what he liked, and when he spoke, Liu Yu nodded again and again.

While talking, they entered this abandoned church together.The person who presided over the work here hurriedly bowed down, and after dismissing them one by one, Liu Yu took the record book and looked at the whereabouts of the baby girls on it. Sure enough, most of them were sent to the tenants for foster care.

Although a girl is born, she can change to a daughter-in-law after she grows up.But in the early stage of raising children, poor people really couldn't afford it.

But after all, they are all their own flesh and blood.If they were really drowned, or thrown into abandoned baby towers or mass graves and left to fend for themselves, they would more or less want to send them to the Salesian Hall, maybe they would still have a chance to survive.

In addition, Xu Guangqi's granddaughter has been devoted to this matter all her life, and Catholicism has spread widely before Songjiang Prefecture.

Just looking at the matter of adopting abandoned babies, it is indeed better than the previous government. The habit of drowning babies in Songjiang Mansion has gradually decreased, and most of them are still abandoned.

After flipping through the accounts casually, it is still easy to see that there is a problem with the accounts.The interest of the salesperson's loan is actually very law-abiding, and all of them are loaned out at a 30% interest rate.But Liu Yu can be regarded as dealing with businessmen and lenders all day long. Before he got married and became self-reliant, his family also lent money. How could he not know the tricks in it?
But he didn't say anything, just looked at it and put it down.

Picking up the registration book, he randomly picked out a tenant in a nearby village who adopted a baby girl, and said, "Just go and have a look, so I can learn about the life of this tenant in Songjiang Prefecture."

Knowing Liu Yu's temper, the governor of Songjiang Mansion hurriedly said to those who were anxious to inform: "Don't make a fuss. I'll accompany Jinghou there, don't ask his family to know in advance."

According to the record in the record book, the group left the city and turned to a nearby village.

People from the Salesian Home come to visit and check every month, so they are familiar with the road.And working in a sales home, firstly, there is money to be paid, and secondly, it is tax-free and labor-free. Therefore, this is not a purely welfare work, but a job that requires a lot of effort to find a way to do it.

The workers in the Salesian's Home led Liu Yu and others into a gate yard, and only guarded the gate yard. This was completely different from the tenant farmers' homes Liu Yu saw in Wendeng and other places.

Compared with the tenant farmers in the north, if you only look at this family, it seems that the tenant farmers here are living a much better life than the tenant farmers in the north.

There is a full range of farm tools and even a small animal in the yard.

When he entered, the owner thought he was just a member of the Salesian, but when he saw the official uniform behind him, he trembled in fright.

After being dissuaded with good words, Liu Yu smiled and said to the governor of Songjiang: "If it wasn't for the official's temporary intention, I just randomly selected someone, and I'm sure there is no trick to deceive people... I really doubt that you knew it in advance and arranged it for me. What about acting. If the tenants of my Songjiang Mansion can do this, what is there to worry about?"

The Governor of Songjiang Mansion hurriedly laughed and said: "It's not only the luck of Jinghou that he ordered such a family. It is also because the seeds planted by Jinghou before have now borne fruit. This is not the normal state of tenants in Songjiang Mansion, but there are two types of tenants in Songjiang Mansion .”

"Although these two types are called tenants, they are completely different. The house that Hou Jing saw is exactly the kind of tenants that are different from other places."

"Although I don't know, but after a little guessing, I know."

After all, the Governor of Songjiang asked the farmer, "Is your family the kind that sells the land and doesn't own any property, but rents out land for farming?"

This tenant farmer who only looked at the family situation looked like a middle peasant, kowtowed quickly and said: "Your Excellency is right. The villain is the kind who sells the land, does not own the property, but rents out the land and farms it."

Liu Yu was slightly taken aback, Songjiang Mansion Yin said with a smile: "Marquis Jing doesn't know anything about the countryside of Songjiang Mansion, this involves two things."

"One is the overseas trade established by the Marquis of Whale."

"The second is that the imperial court spread the head tax into the land, and the tax is levied per mu, regardless of the head."

"Although the lower official also hopes to rule the people, the tenants can be like this family. However, the lower official has to say that this kind of tenant is not a common tenant in the Celestial Dynasty. That’s a lot. They are said to be tenant farmers, but they are actually good farmers. Although they are not wealthy, they are still a middle-class family. This is... a fake tenant farmer.”

"You know, since the poll tax was distributed to the land, there are many folk songs?"

"It may be said: the tax is light and the burden is on the mu, so it is better to sell the land to rent the land;

(End of this chapter)