Tian Qing said lightly: "Why are you asking so much, we just need to be careful!" ”

Zhang Cheng smiled noncommittally: "The prefect is right. ”

Tian Qing glanced at him, his face a little displeased.

He is a prefect transferred from other places, and he is not familiar with the place, while Zhang Cheng has been here for many years, has a deep foundation, and has a lot to do with the local heroes.

Li Wei and Wu Yong, as well as the officials of the Ministry of Industry, followed the small officials and explored in the vicinity of Yangzhou City.

The water system in the south of the Yangtze River is developed, Yangzhou is even more so, there are many lakes and rivers around, and the place where Li Wei gets off the boat is very close to the south city gate, and the canal is in the east of the city.

It's just that the eastern section of the Grand Canal is blocked at this time, and the transportation is not passable, and the last time Xu Da went north, Zhu Yuanzhang ordered Xue Xiang to supervise the construction of sea ships, which was to transport grain and grass to the north by sea.

However, although the canal does not reach Beiping, the southern section is still in use, and there are often merchant ships to and fro to transport goods.

The canal comes from the south, turns a corner to the east when it reaches the location of Yangzhou City, and then turns to the north again, so that a large piece of land is vacated in the east of Yangzhou City now, and many foreign merchants and people can not live in the city, so they will build houses and settle down here, and they are scattered in this open space.

Li Wei and his officials explored and found that this place was the most suitable, if a city was built here, the southeast side was bordered by the canal, and the west side was the old city, so it was only necessary to dig a moat in the north to connect the canal with the old city.

With such a geographical location, it is undoubtedly an excellent place to build a city, and Li Wei even suspected that Zhu Yuanzhang set aside this vacant land to prepare for future expansion.

It's just that the only thing that makes him dissatisfied is that this place is not big, the total is less than 5,000 acres, the east and west are only three miles wide, and if the north and south are built like the current Yangzhou City, it will only be four miles, which is converted to three square kilometers, which is much smaller than the scale of the 10,000-mu city he expected.

If you add the current Yangzhou City, it is almost the same, but this small Yangzhou City has only been built for 20 years, and it will definitely not work if it is demolished and rebuilt, and it is a waste.

After exploring the surrounding area, Li Wei returned to the temporary mansion prepared for him by Tian Qing, and thought for a long time with the sketches drawn by the craftsmen, but he didn't come up with a better way.

"Hey, let's be smaller, let's test the waters."

Li Wei sighed and said to himself.

That's fine, try to get a small town first, and if you can, go to another place to build a big city later.

And this is easier, there is not so much financial pressure, hundreds of thousands, even if it is all drawn from the Chamber of Commerce, it can be obtained.

Just as Li Wei was making a decision, Wu Yong knocked on the door and came in, and reported respectfully:

"My lord, Yangzhou Tongzhi Zhang Cheng asks to see you."

"Huh? What is he here for? ”

Li Wei was a little confused, that prefect Tian Qing didn't come to see him, why did this deputy Zhang Cheng come.

Wu Yong shook his head to indicate that he didn't know, Li Wei pondered for a while, and then said, "Let him come in." ”

He had just arrived in Yangzhou and did not know much about the situation at this time, so it would be good to have the opportunity to talk more with local officials.

Wu Yong said yes, and after a while, he led Zhang Cheng in.

"Xiaguan Yangzhou Tongzhi Zhang Cheng, meet Master Li!"

Zhang Cheng was carrying a paper bag, and when he came in, he immediately bowed his hand deeply, and his attitude was extremely respectful.

Li Wei raised his hand and said, "No need to be polite, please sit down." ”

"Thank you, sir!"

Zhang Cheng straightened up and sat down on the chair next to him as instructed by Li Wei.

"Is there anything that Lord Zhang is looking for me?" Li Wei asked straight to the point.

"Oh, Xia Guan is here to see if Lord Li has a place to use Xia Guan." Zhang Chenggong said: "Although the lower officials are only sparse and thin, they have been officials in Yangzhou for many years, and they are still very familiar with this place. ”

Li Wei was suddenly a little moved when he heard this, he needed this kind of person now.

"I just want to ask someone about something, since Master Zhang is so familiar with Yangzhou, I just want to give this official an answer." Li Wei said.

Zhang Cheng looked delighted, and immediately said: "My lord, just ask, the lower officials know everything." ”

Li Wei nodded lightly, thought for a while, and asked, "Who owns that piece of land in the east of the city, do you know?" ”

"I know, most of them belong to the Yue family and the Gu family, and some foreign businessmen have bought some scattered plots of land to build houses to live in, but there are not many." Zhang Cheng replied.

Li Wei bowed his head lightly and asked again, "What about the north of the city?" ”

"There are the fields of Beining Temple and Beilai Temple, as well as some of the fields of the Dong family and the Fan family." Zhang Cheng answered fluently and knew these situations well.

Li Wei frowned slightly when he heard this, to be honest, he didn't have a good impression of these monks, in his consciousness, those who believe in Buddhism and seek Taoism are only those who are full of food and have nothing to do, and they have done too much to find God and Buddha for comfort, and occasionally there are poor people who can't live and pray to God and worship Buddha will only be deceived into losing both money and money.

"yes, I see." Li Wei nodded lightly and pondered.

Zhang Cheng hesitated for a moment, and said tentatively: "Does Lord Li want to expand Yangzhou City in the east of the city?" ”

"I'm ......" Li Wei opened his mouth and was about to say, but suddenly stopped.

He remembered the collusion of officials and businessmen in later generations to use inside information to buy land in advance, although now it is an ancient, and there are few people in the land, but if the news of the construction of the city leaks out, maybe someone will deliberately grab the land in advance.

Li Wei's eyes froze, and he said lightly: "I don't know yet, let's take a look." ”

Zhang Cheng smiled when he heard this: "Okay, if your lord has a place where you can send a bad official, just send it!" ”

Li Wei stared at him, and had some suspicions in his heart that this guy was deliberately here to listen to the news!

"Lord Zhang, the construction of the city is related to the interests of the imperial court, and this news can't be leaked out!" Li Wei warned with a straight face.

Zhang Cheng's face suddenly turned grim, and he said solemnly: "Don't worry, my lord, the lower officials will definitely keep their mouths shut and will never leak this matter!" ”

Li Wei bowed his head slightly, but he still had doubts about him in his heart.

"It's getting late, and I won't keep you if I don't have anything else." Li Wei said lightly.

"Then the next official will retire!" Zhang Cheng got up and handed over his hand, and then seemed to notice that he was carrying something in his hand, and woke up and said: "Oh yes, this is a new tea from Xiaguan's hometown, and I hope that adults will not dislike it." ”

As he spoke, Zhang Cheng handed over the paper bag.

Li Wei took a look, this paper bag was tied with hemp rope, and he felt that the weight was not light, if it was really tea, he was afraid that it was mixed with gold and silver leaves.

"I don't drink tea!" Li Wei said softly.

"My lord laughed." Zhang Cheng glanced at the half-drunk tea bowl in Li Wei's hand and laughed softly.

Li Wei lost his patience, his face sank, and he said coldly: "Take it back!" ”

Zhang Cheng's smile suddenly stiffened, and he took back the "tea" in embarrassment: "Yes, yes, then the next official will retire first." ”

Li Wei waved his hand impatiently.

Zhang Cheng bowed and withdrew from the room, Li Wei's brows suddenly furrowed, and he secretly said trouble.

The next day, Li Wei summoned Tian Qing over and asked Zhang Cheng again, for the sake of prudence, in addition to asking about the land in the east of the city, he also asked about other places in general as a cover-up.

Tian Qing was obviously not as familiar with Yangzhou as Zhang Cheng, and he had to go through the documents several times to tell him the exact answer.

After comparing the answers of the two, seeing that there was no discrepancy, Li Wei immediately ordered someone to talk to these people.

In fact, he can also directly use the name of the government to forcibly expropriate, and now unlike later generations, the government is not so easy to speak, saying that if you expropriate your land, you will expropriate your land, and you will have to give it if you don't give it.

However, Li Wei still wants to solve it in the most gentle way possible, after all, it is not easy for the people.

After some inquiry, he finally figured out the price of these lands, which was only two or three per mu, which was much cheaper than he expected.

Think about it, it is now the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, and the land has been abandoned due to years of war, and it is the era when there are fewer people and more land, and the land is naturally cheap.

This is also quite interesting, since the unification of the Qin Emperor has been more than 1,500 years, but the population of the land of China has been hovering around tens of millions, and the reincarnation has not changed for more than 1,000 years.

Now in this period, there are more people and less land and land is cheap, but after the steady development of the Ming Dynasty for more than 100 years, it will definitely rise many times, if you start hoarding land from now on, you will definitely be able to develop into a powerful family after a hundred years.

Of course, Li Wei himself does not have this idea, after all, the cycle is too long, and he is not short of that money.

Jiangdu County Ya, Zhang Cheng sat in the main seat, but Wu Xing, the Jiangdu County Governor, was standing, respectfully reporting to him the movements of the officials sent out by Li Wei.

Jiangdu County is a county directly under the central government of Yangzhou Prefecture, and the Yangzhou Mansion is built in Jiangdu County, and the county government is in the city.

"The price they gave was very high, three yuan per mu of land, and many ordinary people signed the deed directly after hearing the price, and the Gu family also agreed, and the people of the Yue family were also very excited!"

Wu Xing slowly said the news he had gotten, Zhang Cheng squinted his eyes slightly, and after listening carefully, he couldn't help but show a hint of ridicule: "Heh, this concubine, I told the official yesterday to take a look, but I couldn't wait to send someone to collect the land the next day, this is for fear that the official will deliberately leak the news." ”

"Then let's keep it a secret for him?" Wu Xing said tentatively.

"Of course not! You go and tell the people of the Yue family and the Gu family now, so that they are not allowed to sell the land, not only do they not sell it, but they also have to rush to buy other people's acres, and then sell it to our horse master by several times, won't you be able to make a lot of money for nothing! ”

Zhang Cheng said without hesitation.

After hearing this, Wu Xing couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive in his heart, and carefully persuaded: "My lord, I heard that this concubine is not easy to mess with, since entering the court, several Shangshu have been imprisoned for his resignation, and even lost their lives, which is deeply trusted by His Majesty, or we will still ......."

"Hmph, what are you afraid of? Da Ming Law does not stipulate that we are not allowed to buy land, and with the people of the Yue family and the Gu family coming forward, he will not know that it is us behind it! ”

Zhang Cheng interrupted him unhappily, and after speaking, he turned to a Confucian scholar sitting on the side and asked, "What does Mr. Jingju think?" ”

The Confucian scholar was dressed in a green shirt, and when he passed the destiny of heaven, he smiled elegantly when he heard Zhang Cheng's words, and said softly: "What Lord Zhang said is extremely true, everything we do is lawless, so we don't have to worry." ”

Zhang Cheng couldn't help but smile when he heard this, this Confucian scholar is not a simple person, he is a great talent, the only one of the four masters of Wuzhong.

"I heard it, Mr. Jingju said that there is no need to worry, you can rest assured." Zhang Cheng said with a smile.

When Wu Xing heard this, the worry on his face did not disappear, he has been an official for so many years, and he knows very well that it doesn't matter what is illegal or illegal, what matters is the position of power, you provoke a powerful person, no matter how much you keep the law, you will do the same.

Seeing him like this, Zhang Cheng also put away his smile, and said angrily: "Don't worry, when this matter is done, your share will be indispensable." ”

"Thank you, sir!"

Wu Xing sighed in his heart and thanked him respectfully.

Zhang Cheng bowed slightly.

Thinking of Li Wei's expression when he refused to send him "tea" yesterday, his eyes couldn't help but be a little gloomy.

He has been operating in Yangzhou for many years, not only are his people in the government, but even there are military attaches in the guard station who have a close relationship with him.

Of course he didn't dare to fight head-on, but as long as he secretly used some means, he could easily play this horse master around. (End of chapter)