Liu Zongze, Liu Jisheng, Liu Jiping and his son sat together. Liu Jiping said first: "Dad, have you received a notice from overseas Chinese?"

Before Liu Zongze could speak, Liu Jisheng said, "I received it yesterday. The overseas Chinese working group will come to our village in three or four days. I came to the city to discuss this matter with my father."

Liu Jiping turned to Liu Zongze again and said, "Dad, what are you going to do?"

Liu Zongze talked about his discussion with everyone in the county government and the suggestions he made, and then said, "Jiping, have you heard anything in Qingdao?"

Liu Jiping smiled bitterly and said, "Dad, overseas Chinese have come to me for a special interview. They told me that land reform was the national policy of overseas Chinese establishing a country overseas. It is willing to be implemented here, and told us not to have any illusions and hope that we can avoid handing over land. But our family has a good reputation in the village and often has good deeds. They are more open-minded landlords. In addition to land, our family also operates commercial and handicrafts, so they are also considered other ingredients and landlords. I hope our family can take the lead and take the initiative to hand over the land. This will not only give us some compensation, but also give our family some preferential policies in other aspects."

When Liu Jisheng heard this, he couldn't help but be furious and said, "It's obviously our land, so why do they just need to collect it? And we have to take the initiative to hand over the fields. Is there any law of the Heavenly Rule?"

Liu Zongze waved his hand and stopped his eldest son's words, saying: "Have overseas Chinese ever said how can they compensate?"

Liu Jiping said: "Overseas Chinese said that they can compensate our family with one thousand taels of silver, and......

Before he could finish his words, Liu Jisheng couldn't help it and said, "Our family has more than 1,000 acres of land, which is worth tens of thousands of taels of silver. Only one thousand taels of silver are compensated. Isn't they just robbed it openly?"

Liu Jiping said: "Overseas Chinese said that this is not buying land, it is just compensation. Our family has not much land. According to their standards, it is only enough to compensate one thousand taels, and the highest compensation is only three thousand taels. No matter how much land, it cannot exceed this number. This still requires our family to take the initiative to hand over the land. If there is any concealment or obstruction, there will be no compensation; of course, we can also give our family some preferential policies in other aspects."

Liu Zongze immediately asked, "What other compensation are there?"

Liu Jiping said: "If our family opens shops and factories in the ruling areas of overseas Chinese, they can reduce a certain tax rate; if there are imported and exported goods and goods, they can also reduce some tariffs; in addition, overseas Chinese will immediately open banks, which can provide us with low interest rates, and can also help our workshops upgrade their technology, set up factories, and introduce Western machines to make copperware, which can improve production efficiency and reduce production costs." After a pause, he said: "Also, if we support their land reform, we can ask our father to come forward and serve as members of their CPPCC and participate in politics and make decisions."

It turned out that during this period, although the time traveler did not make any big moves, he actually did a lot of practical things. At least he had basically figured out the situation and personnel composition of the area he controlled. The Liu family is the number one squire in Jiaozhou area, so he is naturally the object of the time traveler's focus on investigation.

Overall, the Liu family has a good reputation in the local area. The land rent set for tenants is not high. Moreover, when encountering tenants who are in real difficulties, they will also reduce the land rent. They have also taken the lead in doing some good things in paving roads, repairing bridges, and applying clothes and placing medicines. Therefore, they do have a reputation for being kind and kind in the local area. Of course, this is related to the fact that the Liu family's land is not much, but the family's income does not rely on land. However, it cannot be ruled out that the Liu family has done a good job in doing good deeds. For such gentry, of course, it is better to convince them to take the initiative to hand over the land.

In addition, the Liu family's business and handicrafts are also quite large, with their own shops and handicraft workshops. They are not simply landlords. This is also an important national industry supported by the Time Travel Group. They hope to guide them to completely transform into national industrial and commercial capitalists through policies. Of course, the premise is that they must support the rule of time travelers and support the land reform of time travelers.

This time, Liu Jiping went to Jingdao. In addition to discussing business, he did have the idea of ​​opening a shop in Qingdao. Because he had contacted overseas Chinese several times and visited Qingdao twice, he felt that overseas Chinese management was much better than the Qing court. Although their rules were formulated very carefully, they strictly followed the rules. Since all regulations were clearly defined, merchants should pay taxes, procedures, and what can be done and what cannot be done are all clear at a glance, and there will be no additional expenses. Moreover, the work managers are honest, dedicated to the public, and are very efficient in their work. No one dares to extort, nor does they often pay respects. Merchants can also operate in Qingdao with peace of mind, which is an unthinkable thing elsewhere.

This time, Wang Sheng personally met Liu Jiping. In addition to discussing opening a shop in Qingdao, the two focused on the land reform. Wang Sheng also patiently explained the land policy of the time traveler to Liu Jiping, and explained it to reason and benefit. On the one hand, it was to let the Liu family get rid of the illusion that could escape land reform and even the Qing court's interference; on the other hand, it was to hope that the Liu family could take the initiative to offer the fields and set the Liu family as a model, which could have a model effect on other gentry.

Because Liu Jiping was responsible for running the family's business and workshops, he had more contact with the outside world. He knew some things about the Westernization, and had a broader horizon. He had no interest in traditional income from renting land, but was quite enthusiastic about doing business and running an industry.

This is not surprising, because after 30 years of Westernization Movement, although China has not truly become rich and strong, it has indeed played a role in modern industrial enlightenment. By using machine production instead of manual labor, some traditional handicraft workshops are also trying to introduce machines, upgrade technology, and change production mode. Liu Jiping also had this idea, introducing some machines to the family's copper making workshops. However, Liu Jiping didn't know much about machines, so he didn't know how to introduce machines. The compensation proposed by Wang Sheng was exactly what Liu Jiping wanted. Overseas Chinese are proficient in the art of Western craftsmen's equipment, which is recognized. If they are willing to help, of course it would be better.

If land collection is inevitable, then overseas Chinese help the Liu family’s copper making workshop introduce Western machine manufacturing, upgrade technology, and set up factories as compensation for the Liu family, which is acceptable.

After listening to Liu Jiping’s speech, Liu Jisheng said: “What are the members of the CPPCC, those who participate in politics and make decisions? What are the overseas Chinese doing? Are they going to occupy Shandong and rebel?”

Liu Jiping said: "Brother, you can't say that. If overseas Chinese really want to rebel, what can the court do? I have asked overseas Chinese in this way, but he said that they want to imitate the style of various countries and ask the court to hand over Shandong to them as fiefdoms, just like the concession. Everything is actually conquered by overseas Chinese autonomy."

Liu Zongze was shocked, as if he had realized something. As an old man who had been in the officialdom for nearly 20 years, Liu Zongze's attention to the current situation was naturally much more intelligent than Zhou Wenhuai, who had only been a county magistrate. Since overseas Chinese captured Qingdao, Liu Zongze has been very concerned about the trends of overseas Chinese, but he did not see through the intentions of overseas Chinese, saying that they were going to rebel and subvert the Qing Dynasty, because they did not divide one side, form a country, and establish a flag to be king, on the contrary, on the contrary, they also fought against the Eight-Nation Alliance, regained lost territory, and curbed the rights and interests of the Qing Dynasty in diplomatic negotiations. It was no longer like a group of rebels.

But it is not necessarily true that overseas Chinese are loyal to the court, because since they returned, they have been close to the court, and on the surface they helped the Qing court, but when they negotiated to surrender, they did not seem to be active. In Liu Zongze's view, if overseas Chinese were really loyal to the court, they should immediately request surrender to the court. After obtaining the court's surrender, they would discuss their actions in the name of the court, whether it was recruiting soldiers or siege cities and seize land. So what were the overseas Chinese planning to do?

After hearing Liu Jiping's words, Liu Zongze realized that overseas Chinese were imitating foreign concessions in school, requiring the court to divide a place similar to the concessions. Although they were not separatist, they were actually independent. They might even submit to the court in fame, which was somewhat similar to the separatist situation of the Tang Dynasty.

However, compared with foreigners, overseas Chinese are descendants of China and have a considerable sense of identity to the Chinese. Moreover, since the return of overseas Chinese, they have defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance several times and recovered lost land, so they have gained a very high reputation in the country. In addition, the current court is in a low position, because if they want to return to Beijing, they must rely on overseas Chinese, and they may have to accept the conditions proposed by overseas Chinese. The land that overseas Chinese want to obtain is naturally in the Jiaoao area. No wonder overseas Chinese dare to take the big picture of the world and force the land of gentry. It seems that they were wrong. They thought overseas Chinese just wanted some land and money, but they knew that they were not determined at all. This land acquisition is inevitable. I am afraid that there will be no good results in Zhou Zhixian County.

Liu Jisheng and Liu Jiping saw that their father was speechless for a long time and seemed to be immersed intently, and they didn't dare to disturb him. After a while, Liu Jisheng said, "Dad, what are you thinking?"

Liu Zongze was stunned for a moment, then came to his senses, turned to his second son and said, "Jiping, then how do you think we should deal with it?"

Liu Jiping hesitated for a moment before saying, "Dad, I think I'd better hand over the land."
Chapter completed!