Chapter 647

After several days of urgent deliberation, the Imperial Court finally formulated a detailed plan. The sweet potato seeds were to be priced per mu and distributed to the rest of the Great Zhou via two methods. The first was for the commoners to purchase the seeds directly at a rate of ten wen per mu, with any area less than a full mu still calculated as a full mu. After all, a portion of the seeds dispatched by the Imperial Court were whole sweet potatoes, which were food in themselves and could be eaten. The second method was for those who could not afford the payment to borrow seeds from their local government. The harvest would serve as collateral, with interest set at twenty percent. After the autumn harvest, the principal and interest would be repaid to the government, which would then collect the dues and transport them to the Capital along with the autumn taxes. Compared to the predatory private loans that demanded thirteen back for every nine lent, a twenty percent interest rate was significantly lower, provided the principal remained stable.