The blacksmith began to produce firecrackers, which made Liu Pei feel good for a long time. It wasn't until he saw the bills sent by the two shopkeepers that his joy subsided.

This time, Liu Pei has become a veritable big landlord! Jiao, that is, all the ownerless land, barren mountains, and even saline-alkali land within the two counties have not been spared, and they have all been bought! The county magistrates of the two counties even smiled crookedly when they heard it!

The reason given by Liu Pei for buying saline-alkali land is that saline-alkali land cannot grow crops, but it can be built to raise chickens and pigs! You can also build workshops and houses! Fortunately, they are all wasteland and barren mountains, and the price is not high. A total of more than tens of thousands of acres of land is only a hundred thousand taels of silver.

However, after the silver was spent, Liu Pei had no money at all. Before the next payment was recovered, Liu Pei only had less than 20,000 taels of silver left on his books. This amount of money was a drop in the bucket for his large family and tenant population.

But just when he was worried, Liu Jiang came. He was informed by the doorman to go into Liu Pei's yard. Walking into the room, he saw Liu Pei sitting on a chair, his feet resting on the table in a daze, wondering what to think.

Liu Jiang found that Liu Pei's mood was a little low, so Liu Jiang said carefully: "Family master, I have good news here." ”

When Liu Pei heard the good news, he immediately sat up with his legs and said, "You got the money?" ”

Liu Jiang was stunned for a moment, and then thought about Liu Pei's purchase of land, and secretly said that it was a lack of money! He said: "The head of the house is God! This time we did collect a lot of money in Jiaozhou and Jimo! ”

Liu Pei was deflated when he heard this, and said, "How much money can the two small counties receive?" Keep it for yourself! ”

Liu Jiang said with a smile: "The main thing at home is to say so, I really keep it!" Don't regret it! ”

Liu Pei sounded like there was a drama and said, "How much?" Tell me about it! ”

Liu Jiang said: "This time the money is different from the past. This month, we will start collecting the money of those gentry and wealthy families! The entire glue is more than 10,000 taels of silver collected in the two counties! ”

Liu Pei lost interest when he heard this, and said, "I thought there were a lot of that!" Forget it, keep it for yourself! ”

Liu Jiang lowered his eyebrows and said, "Family master, I have received a lot of silver!" The two counties themselves do not produce much, and we only collect industrial and commercial taxes, which is good! And we are in accordance with the regulations of the dynasty, according to the thirty taxes of silver. If we are more ruthless, I am afraid that we can still collect another 10,000 or 20,000 silver! ”

Liu Pei sighed in his heart, whether it is the Tianqi Dynasty or the Chongzhen Dynasty, there is a shortage of silver, and the lack is unsustainable! The commercial tax of this dynasty is scaryly low! Not to mention all kinds of modern taxes, that is, "I Daqing" collects more taxes than Daming! And these gentry clinged to their money bags. Don't they understand the truth of cold lips and teeth? When the small people are exploited and say that they have nothing, that is the time to rise up! Will they still think they can survive then? What a stupid bunch!

Liu Pei turned around and thought again, since the imperial court can't collect their taxes, then I'll worry about collecting them! The silver handed over to the court is also a "drifting" end, it is better to use it to build water conservancy and recruit displaced people! So Liu Pei said: "This silver still belongs to you." ”

Liu Jiang was overjoyed when he heard it! This amount of money is a small amount for Liu Pei, but it is not a small amount of money for Liu Jiang's bloody hand gang. With this money, how many people can be expanded! Originally, I wanted to ask the head of the family for money, but I didn't expect the head of the house to return it in full directly! He immediately arched his hand and said, "Thank you, master!" ”

Liu Pei waved his hand and said, "Don't be in a hurry to thank you first." I have a request for this. In the future, there will be more and more opponents, so you have to expand your strength as soon as possible to master and penetrate the underworld of the entire Shandong! At least we must be deaf and clear-sighted in Shandong! This is very important! ”

Liu Jiang nodded again and again and said, "Understood!" Don't worry, I'll do it as soon as I get back. ”

Liu Pei nodded and said, "Okay, but you have to hurry up!" Also, you have to pay attention to the movements of those cults! To the White Lotus Sect or something, you have to find a way to infiltrate some people. It doesn't require how high the position is, at least we have to know when they have a big move in Shandong Province! ”

Liu Jiang said: "Understood! When I go back, I will arrange a few people to be in charge of the sect. ”

The two discussed some more official business. When the business was finished, Liu Jiang gave a detailed report on how he collected the money from the gentry. Liu Pei couldn't stop laughing when he listened to Liu Jiang's shady methods, but he felt a sulk in his heart.

A few days after Liu Jiang left, the silver in Liu Pei's hand was almost spent. He was wondering if he was looking for Huashufeng to borrow some emergencies, when good news came: the two teams led by Qi Qitao and Wu Yizhou came back!

Originally, according to the normal travel time of the caravan, he would not have come back so early. However, the caravan was full of rubber-tyred carts, and when they went, they were loaded with lightly loaded goods such as soap and shampoo, although they were larger but not heavy, so the journey was faster.

When I came back, although the convoy was full of goods from both places, with the help of many family members and the carrying capacity of the rubber-tyred cart, it was more than a month earlier than the normal time of going back and forth.

These two convoys not only pulled goods, but also tens of thousands of taels of silver. This can solve Liu Pei's urgent need. When Liu Pei received the news, the two convoys had already rushed to Jinan to unload the goods. When they were done, they would come back with the silver.

A few days later, in the afternoon, Liu Pei took people to meet the two convoys in person. In Liu Pei's plan, these two teams can be said to be the top priority. The two caravans not only undertook the task of making deliveries, but also took on the important task of inspecting the roads along the way, drawing maps, and training junior officers. So Liu Pei is very concerned.

Now that the spring ploughing has passed, everyone is free. Therefore, the relocation of Fushan Village has been carried out early, and now there are not many people left in Fushan Village. Even the rest of the people stayed because they worked here. Most of the entire Fushan village has been demolished, and a huge warehouse area is being built. In addition, there are many barracks on both sides that have also been scaled.

Liu Pei thought about sending them to help after the two hundred people who came back rested for a while. With these two hundred people, the pace of construction will be a little faster. Anyway, there are no other plans for this year. It is ready to completely transform a radius of more than ten miles into a huge barracks!