Even though she was mentally prepared, Manbao was still choked for a moment, feeling a bit sad, "Why?"
The young man stammered, unable to reply, and after a long while he finally said, "Farming these lands is too exhausting and we still can't get enough to eat."
Unable to articulate the reason, a few slightly older youths answered for him, "The government land is hard to farm. Outside this area, there is an estate owned by Old Master Fang, where renting his land only requires paying fifty percent of the harvest."
Manbao asked, "How much fixed rent does the court demand from you?"
"The soil in this area of government land is not bad, so they set it at six dou of rice and five dou of flour."
Six dou of rice — that's almost one stone and two dou of grain. A piece of land yields only about two or three stones, which is also fifty percent. But if this fixed rent applies to both dry fields and paddy fields, then the lands for growing beans aren't worth it.
