Chapter 71 Part Two - Nine

Nekhludoff did not fall asleep until the middle of the night, so he awoke very late the next day. At noon, seven elected farmers were invited by the steward to come to the apple tree in the apple orchard.The steward arranged for a table and some benches, all of which were driven into the ground with stakes and covered with planks.Nekhludoff and the steward had some trouble getting the peasant to put on his hat and sit down on the bench.Today the retired soldier is wearing a clean pair of foot-bindings and a pair of clean bark shoes, holding his battered hat in front of his chest respectfully, as if sending a mourner.It wasn't until the broad-shouldered, well-proportioned old farmer put on his big hat, tightened his brand new homespun coat, and sat down on the bench, that the rest followed his example, put on their hats, and sat down.The old farmer, with his grizzled beard and curly beard, resembled Michelangelo's Moses, and his bald forehead, blackened by the sun, was surrounded by gray curls.

-------- ① Michelangelo (1475-1564) - Italian sculptor, painter, architect. "Moses" is his famous sculpture.According to the Bible, Moses was the leader of the ancient Jews. When everyone was seated, Nekhludoff sat down opposite them, with his elbows on the table and a sheet of paper in front of him, on which he began to explain his plan. I don't know whether it was because there were fewer peasants today, or because Nekhludoff was concerned about everyone's affairs, regardless of personal gain or loss, but he was not disturbed today.He naturally spoke mainly to the broad-shouldered old peasant with the grizzled beard, for or against him.But Nekhludoff was wrong about him.Although the well-proportioned old farmer sometimes nodded his patriarchal, dignified head approvingly, and sometimes frowned and shook his head at rebuttals, he didn't quite understand what Nekhludoff was saying, and often had to wait for others. Only when the peasants explained it in their own words did he understand.But a little old man sitting next to him understood Nekhludoff better.The little old man was blind in one eye, barely bearded, and wore a patched khaki cloth tunic and old leather boots with crooked heels.Nekhludoff later learned that he was a furnace builder.The little old man frowned rapidly, listened attentively, and immediately translated Nekhludoff's words.The stocky old man with a big snow-white beard and piercing clever eyes could also understand his words very well, and would find every opportunity to interject a few words to mock his master in order to show off his cleverness.The retired soldier also seems to be very sensible, but unfortunately, the long-term soldier life has made his mind dull, and the soldier's habits make him confused when he speaks.The tallest man with the deep voice, the long nose, and the goatee was the one who took the matter most seriously.He was dressed in a clean homecloth suit and a pair of new bark shoes, and he understood Nekhludoff perfectly, and did not speak unless he had to.There were also two old men--one was the same old man who lost his teeth at yesterday's meeting and firmly opposed all Nekhludoff's proposals; Her feet were wrapped in snow-white foot wraps, and she wore a pair of peasant boots—although she hardly spoke, although she was always listening attentively.

Nekhludoff first explained his views on landed property. "In my opinion," said he, "land cannot be bought or sold. If it could be bought and sold, then the rich could buy the whole land, and they could take whatever they wanted from those who did not have land, by right of use. ...you stand on the ground and they charge you money," he added, citing Spencer's theory. "There is only one way, that is to tie his wings and see if he can go to the sky," the old man with a big gray beard said with a smile in his eyes. "That's a good point," said the long-nosed old man in a low voice.

"Yes, sir," said the retired soldier. "A woman mowed some grass for her cows, and she was caught and sent to jail," Said the kind-looking lame old man. "Our own land is five versts away. Renting land is extremely expensive; if you pay the rent, you can't get back the capital," the old man with missing teeth added angrily. Short is short, worse than servitude." "I think as you do," said Nekhludoff, "I think it is a sin to own land. That's why I'm giving it up." "Well, that's a good thing," said the old man with the Mosaic beard, obviously thinking that Nekhludoff wanted to lease the land.

"That's why I came here. I don't want to occupy the land anymore. Now I have to think about how the land should be divided." "Give the land to the peasants, won't it be enough?" said the old man with missing teeth and an angry face. Nekhludoff felt that this sentence smacked of doubting his sincerity, which at first sounded unpleasant.But he immediately calmed down and hurriedly finished what he wanted to say. "I'd love to," he said, "but to whom? How? To which peasants? And why should it be given to your commune and not to the Deminskoye commune?" ( This is a nearby village with very little land.)

Everyone was silent, only the veteran soldier said: "Yes, sir." "Well, then," said Nekhludoff, "you tell me, if the emperor says to take all the land from the landlords and distribute it to the peasants..." "Is there such a thing?" said the toothless old man. "No, the emperor didn't say anything. It's just what I said: If the emperor said to take all the land from the landlords and give it to the peasants, what would you do?" "What should we do? Divide all the land equally according to the head, the farmer has a share, and the master also has a share," said the furnace builder, raising his eyebrows quickly up and down.

"What else should we do? Divide them equally according to the head," said the lame old man with a kind appearance and white foot bandages. All were in favor of this solution, which was considered satisfactory to all. "How is it divided by the head?" asked Nekhludoff. "Do servants also have a share?" "Absolutely not, sir," said the ex-soldier, trying to look cheerful and spirited. However, the tall, sensible farmer disagreed with him. "Since it is divided, everyone should have a share, and everyone will share equally," he thought for a while, and replied in a low voice.

"No," said Nekhludoff, who had prepared a rebuttal beforehand. "If everyone divides it equally, those who do not work or cultivate themselves, such as lords, servants, cooks, officials, clerks, and all the townspeople, will each receive a share, and can sell the land to the rich. So the land is concentrated again in the hands of the rich. Those who live on their own small plots, they have children, and the population increases, and the land becomes more scattered. The rich again grab the land-poor people." "Yes, sir," the veteran responded quickly. "Then the sale of the land must be forbidden, and only those who cultivate it will have it," said the furnace-builder angrily, interrupting the retired soldier.

Nekhludoff retorted that it was difficult to distinguish who was cultivating for himself and who was cultivating for others. A tall, sensible farmer proposed a solution, that is, everyone cultivated in a cooperative way. "Whoever cultivates the land will be divided, and whoever does not cultivate the land will not be divided," he said in a firm low voice. Nekhludoff was also prepared to object to this communist formula.He said that to do this, everyone must have a plow, and everyone has the same horse, and no one can be better than the other, or the horses, plows, threshers, and the whole farm are all owned by the public and run jointly. Everyone has to agree.

"We ordinary people will never agree to it," said the angry old man. "The fight will never end like this," said the old man with the white beard and the smile in his eyes. "Women are sure to gouge each other's eyeballs out." "Besides, the land is rich and thin, what to do?" said Nekhludoff. "Why can some people get black soil, while others can only get clay and sand?" "Then we have to divide all the land into small pieces and divide them equally," said the furnace builder. Nekhludoff objected that it was not a question of the distribution of the land by a village commune, but of the general distribution of the land in all provinces.If the land is distributed to the peasants at no cost, then why is it that some people get good land and some only get bad land?Everyone wants good land.

"Yes, sir," said the veteran. The rest were silent. "So things are not as simple as they seem," said Nekhludoff. "This level is not only considered by us, but by many people. An American named George came up with a solution. I agree with him." "Anyway, you are the boss, so you can do whatever you want. Who is stopping you? You can decide," said the angry old man. Nekhludoff was embarrassed by this interruption, but he was pleased to discover that he was not alone in his displeasure with it. "Wait a minute, Uncle Semyon, let him finish," said the sensible peasant in a dignified low voice. Encouraged by his words, Nekhludoff explained to them Henry George's plan for a flat tax. "The land belongs to no man, the land belongs to God," he preached. "Yes, that's a good statement," several people replied in unison. "The land is public, and everyone has the same rights. There are good land and bad land, and everyone wants good land. Then, how to divide it fairly? It should be done like this: Anyone who gets good land should pay the land price. Pay people who don't have land," Nekhludoff asked himself. "However, it is difficult to determine who should pay whom. Besides, the public welfare undertakings of the village community also need to raise funds. Therefore, we have to do this: everyone who gets the land must pay the village community for various purposes according to the land price. This is fair and reasonable. If you want land, you have to pay, more for good land, less for bad land. If you don’t want land, you don’t have to pay, and the public welfare fund will be paid for you by those who get the land.” "That makes sense," said the furnace-builder, raising his eyebrows. "Whoever has better land will pay more." "Then George's a smart man," said the regular-looking old man with the curly beard. "But the price should be affordable," said the tall farmer in a low voice, obviously anticipating the next problem. "The price can't be set too expensive, and it can't be too cheap... If it's too expensive, people can't afford it, and they'll lose money; if it's too cheap, they'll trade with the land. I'm here to make this matter do it." "That's right, that's right. Well, that's fine," said the farmers. "He's got a head," said the broad-shouldered, curly-haired old man again. "That George! What an idea." "Well, what should I do if I want to get a piece of land?" said the butler with a smile. "If you have a spot, you can plant it yourself," said Nekhludoff. "What do you want land? You are full enough without land," said the old man with smiling eyes. This concludes the meeting. Nekhludoff repeated his proposal, but he did not want them to answer on the spot, but urged them to discuss it with the others and then give him an answer. The farmers said they would discuss it with the group and then give him an answer.They said goodbye to their hosts and left excitedly.Their loud voices came from the road for a long time, getting farther and farther away.But the conversations of the peasants in the village came from the river until late at night. The next day, the farmers did not work and were all discussing their master's proposal.The whole village is divided into two factions: one faction believes that the boss's proposal is beneficial to them and there is no danger;On the third day, however, everyone agreed with the master's proposal, and came to Nekhludoff to announce the decision of the whole commune.In accepting the owner's suggestion, the words of an old woman played a role.She said the boss was thinking about his soul and he was doing it to save it.The old men agreed with her, and this dispelled any apprehension of fraudulent behavior by the master.Nekhludoff gave a lot of money during his stay in Banov, which also confirmed the truth of the old woman's explanation.However, Nekhludoff gave money here because he was shocked by the poverty and hardship of the local peasants for the first time, so although he knew that giving alms was unreasonable, he couldn't help giving away some money.At present, he has a lot of money on hand, because he received the money from the sale of the Kuzminskoye Forest last year, as well as the deposit for the sale of farm tools. When the common people heard that the master gave money to those who asked for help, many people came from nearby villages to ask him for help, mainly women.He simply didn't know what to do, what principles to act on, whom to give, and how much to give.He felt that since he had money, he should give to those supplicants who were really poor.However, there is no point in responding to requests.The only way out of this predicament is to walk away.He left the place quickly. On the last day of his stay in Banov, Nekhludoff came to the main house to clean up the debris in the house.When cleaning, he found a lot of letters in the bottom drawer of his aunt's old mahogany wardrobe with a lion's head brass ring, and there was a photo of several people in it. Him and Katyusha.Katyusha appears pure, delicate, beautiful and vigorous.From the clutter in the main room Nekhludoff took only the letter and the photograph.The rest was given to the miller.Through the introduction of the smiling butler, the miller bought these things at a tenth of the price, including the main house and all the furniture of Barnovo. Nekhludoff recalled how he was reluctant to give up his property in Kuzminskoye, and wondered how he could have such thoughts.Now he feels more and more relaxed and happy to let go of his burden, and feels fresh like a traveler discovering a new world.