Chapter 89: Mortgage Deed
Editor: Atlas Studios
“These are gathered by each family. Although it’s not enough, it’s better to return as much as possible. When the harvest comes next autumn, everyone will repay the remaining amount.” Liu He stuffed the silver that each family had voluntarily contributed into Mu Shi’s hands.
Although Mu Shi was relatively well-off, Shu Wanniang and Little Bowen had both fallen sick from the cold. Coupled with Mu Yangling’s injuries, he wouldn’t have much money left. As such, it was impossible for him to repay the medical fees paid by the Qi family. Madam Ma-Liu saw this and naturally did not want her nephew to suffer such a big disadvantage, so she went to look for Liu He behind Mu Shi’s back.
In the past few days, the refugees from the entire prefecture had arrived at the prefectural capital one after another. The villagers of Nearhill Village also learned about the situation everywhere from them. It could only be summed up in two words: extremely tragic.
Mingshui County suffered the most. Reason being, coming from Mount Jiexi, the Jin soldiers first passed by Mingshui County and Changju County. Since the county magistrate of Changju County guarded the city gate with the bailiffs and did not let the Jin soldiers enter, only the villages on the other side of Mount Jiexi suffered.
However, the county magistrate of Mingshui County abandoned his citizens and simply ran away. Not only did the Jin soldiers plunder the county and massacre the people there, but they also entered the various villages of Mingshui County via the open city gate. Below that, other than a small village that could only be reached by crossing Chef Mountain and another one with a hidden location that were spared, the other villages were all burned to ashes.
Nearhill Village was still considered alright, totaling 263 survivors because many had fled. In contrast, some villages had been completely massacred, while others only had 10 to 20 survivors.
This made the villagers of Nearhill Village even more grateful to Mu Yangling. If she had not led them, Nearhill Village might have become the second West Mountain Village.
Liu He said regretfully, “I don’t know how many people in West Mountain Village survived. I heard that it was burned to the ground and the village is covered in blood. Those damn barbarians didn’t even let off newborn children.”
As Nearhill Village was very close to West Mountain Village, many families had relatives there, so they inevitably felt sad when they heard the news.
Seeing that everyone was silent, Liu He tapped his pipe and raised his voice. “Alright, the living are more important. Dacang, what news did you find out from the government office? Did the magistrate say when the warehouse will be opened for disaster relief?”
Liu Dacang was Liu He’s eldest son. If nothing unexpected happened, he would take over as the patriarch of the Liu family and the village chief of Nearhill Village in the future.
Liu Dacang’s expression was a little solemn as he replied, “I’ve asked around. The government office refuses to say anything. There are already many commoners surrounded there. Later, when I privately pulled aside a bailiff to ask, he told me that the government office probably won’t open the warehouse to provide disaster relief.”
“What did you just say?” Liu Erqian jumped up. “How are we going to survive the winter if they don’t open the warehouse to provide disaster relief? Our grains have been snatched, and even our houses have been burned down…”
“Alright, alright.” Liu Daqian pulled his younger brother back and lectured him. “What’s with all that unnecessary fuss at your age? Don’t you feel ashamed acting like this in front of the younger generation?”
“What’s there to be ashamed about?” Liu Erqian muttered unhappily, “I didn’t say anything wrong. Didn’t we finish all the food we brought from home?”
Liu He looked at his son and asked, “Did the bailiff say how the magistrate plans to deal with us refugees?”
Liu Dacang lowered his voice and said with reddened eyes, “He said that the squires pity us and are willing to lend us their stored grains for the time being. They just need us to mortgage our title deeds.”
The pipe in Liu He’s hand fell to the ground and Mu Yangling looked up with a sharp glint in her eyes. Liu Daqian and the others fell silent.
After looking left and right, Fang Zhuzi walked forward with his walking stick and asked, “What’s the big deal? Let’s just mortgage it. We can always pay it back next autumn.”
For the first time, Madam Fang-Liu smacked her son’s head and cried, “You prodigal thing, what do you know? If you mortgage that, don’t even think about getting it back. Have you seen something be taken out again after entering the landlord’s house? They’re forcing us to our deaths!”
Liu He’s expression was dark as his chest rose and fell rapidly. “The government office’s not even taking out a single grain?”
“Father, don’t be anxious.” Liu Dacang hurriedly supported him. “This is only the bailiff’s side of the story. Let’s wait a few more days and see. Perhaps the government office will open the warehouse and release the grains.”
Those were merely Liu Dacang’s words of comfort. Because just three days later, the magistrate stood in his office and complained of being hard up. “The tax grains have already been transported to Lin’an Prefecture. In addition to the military salary allocated to the West Camp, there’s no more money and grains in the prefecture. However, don’t worry, everyone. I’ve already discussed it with the local squires. They’re willing to temporarily lend you their grains to let everyone have a good New Year. But in order to prevent some sneaky people from not repaying, we need everyone to mortgage their title deeds. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have title deeds. You can always mortgage your farmland. Once it’s verified, you can borrow the grains. If you don’t have any farmland, you can sign an employment agreement with the few philanthropic masters first. When everyone returns the grains borrowed next autumn, these title deeds will naturally be returned, and the agreement will be void.”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked. Many people were tempted, but some older elders held their juniors back and did not allow them to go forward. As for Nearhill Village, Liu He, Liu Daqian, and the others also suppressed the noisy villagers and said in a hushed voice, “We can’t agree to this. Land is the lifeblood of farmers. Once it’s mortgaged, we won’t be able to get it back.”
“Didn’t the magistrate say that we only have to return the grains next year?” Still tempted, the young man coaxed with a smile, “Eldest Great-uncle, just agree. We’ve been starving for two days already. If this goes on, we’ll die of hunger soon.”
“That’s right. What use is a title deed to a dead man?” Fang Zhuzi touched the pocket where the title deed was placed, still tempted.
Madam Fang-Liu held her eldest son tightly and forbade him from going forward.
Although she could not reason with him, she knew that this was not a good thing. They absolutely mustn’t exchange their title deeds for food. Otherwise, their family would have to starve in the future.
Although Fang Zhuzi and the others were extremely tempted, Liu He was highly respected. With him standing in front with a dark expression, no one dared to step forward.
12 tables had already been set up at the entrance of the government office in front. The names of the various squires were written on the front, and there were people carrying bags of grains at the back. If anyone was willing to mortgage their land, they could register with their deeds before immediately taking away the grains.
Seeing the grains, everyone was even more tempted. Mu Yangling saw that a few people had already walked forward with their title deed.
Tsk, fancy acting like saints while doing such a wicked thing.
If this continued, no matter how respected Liu He was, he wouldn’t be able to suppress everyone. Most importantly, everyone was running out of food now. The government and the squires were blatantly colluding and telling everyone that they could only starve to death if they didn’t mortgage their title deed. Even if Liu He understood this, could he watch his fellow villagers starve to death in the end?
This was practically a dead end. Everyone would have no choice but to mortgage their title deed. And after this matter, how many people would become lifelong slaves for the squires?