Author: Soy Sauce Xuanzhu

Li Yewu smiled: "You are the sellers now, so naturally you set the price. If the price is right, I will take back the land on behalf of the prince."

Xiao Jiuxi's being far away in the capital has such advantages.

No matter what she says, no one will expose her.

The old housekeeper was shocked. It turned out that the young lady was walking around these days to look at the fields.

The master threw away things one by one, and the little lady picked them up one by one...

The old housekeeper immediately felt like a prodigal son meeting a virtuous wife. If possible, he would have cried to the ground for several days! As a result, he began to respect the young lady even more.

No one noticed the old housekeeper's actions. Everyone was shocked by the news that Li Yewu suddenly wanted to buy land.

However, the head of the Liu family is the last of the four major families, and he also knows that he is not qualified to set the price. He said vaguely: "Well, I haven't thought about how much to sell. It can't be lower than when I bought it."

"As far as I know, most of the fields outside are 10 taels an acre. The princess can also refer to it."

Li Yewu couldn't help but laugh: "Does the Sifang Patriarch mean to offer the same price as the market price?"

The four of them looked at each other without saying anything, acquiescing.

Li Yewu continued: "But outside there is fertile land, but here is barren land. It is not easy to replant it."

"It was fertile land before, so it doesn't actually affect it." The head of the Mu family joined the group chat.

It is said that he and Li Yewu borrowed cattle, and later exchanged the old buffalo for four sheep.

Li Yewu thought that Patriarch Mu had a relationship with her and would be polite, but she didn't know that she wouldn't give him any advantage he deserved.

Sure enough, being one of the four major merchants in Taihe City is not a waste of money.

"Thirty thousand acres of land is quite a lot, and it costs three hundred thousand silver... Princess, you..."

"It's okay. Let's negotiate the price slowly. It's still less than the 8 million IOU, right?"

Li Yewu brought out his trump card, and these people could only laugh awkwardly.

Eight million taels is indeed outrageous. If converted into land, most of Chu could buy it, let alone Taihe City.

Feeling that he was at a loss, the Sifang Patriarch rubbed his nose and said, "How about this? How much money was used to buy it, and the princess still buys it back for how much money, what do you think? But the premise is that we no longer accept IOUs, and can only trade with real money.

"

When the Sifang Patriarch said this, everyone else was a little surprised.

Businessmen are heavy on profits, and this kind of business that neither loses nor makes a profit is the most boring. Has the Sifang family master lost his mind?

But then I thought about it, there is really no point in keeping the wasteland in their hands. Even their own fields are almost deserted, so how can they have the energy to get new fields? They might as well sell it now and at least not lose money.

After thinking about it, no one said anything.

At any rate, I didn't force him to go back.

In front of the imperial power, they are the weak side after all.

Li Yewu nodded: "The Sifang Patriarch is still wise, so I'd like to trouble you to go back and sort out the land deeds. In ten days, I'll even pay you one yuan to buy the land."

Everyone was doubtful whether the princess could really spend so much money.

But looking at her confident look, it doesn't look like a joke.

After leaving the house, they naturally went to the wine shop together.

Speaking of which, the main business of the Sifang family is wine shops and inns. He has chain stores all over Taihe Prefecture and even in several neighboring counties. The business is booming.

He naturally became the head of the four major families.

If the four of them want to discuss something, they usually make an appointment in the private room of Sifang Restaurant.

After a few people sat down, the shopkeeper wisely arranged the drinks.

The head of the Liu family, the last of the four major families, is the most insecure. As soon as he sat down, he couldn't help but ask: "What kind of medicine do you think the princess sells in the gourd?"

The head of the Sifang family pondered for a long time before replying: "I sent someone to inquire. It is said that the princess was doing business in the capital before."

"I see!"

"No wonder she can easily see the flaws in the accounts and is even good at negotiating."

"This princess is not simple. As soon as she came here, she immediately made arrangements to pay off debts and buy land. It seems that she wants to get Prince Zhang's palace back on track."

"Although Xiao Jiuxi is stupid, she has found a capable wife."

"Did she buy the land with the intention of growing her own food? What if she stops buying food from us in the future?"

"Oh, can 30,000 acres feed everyone in Taihe City? Besides, she also needs to have money to hire tenants. Today's tenants cannot be hired just by being rich."

"That's right. Wages have gone up like crazy these days. If she really opens up wasteland for farming, she may not be as comfortable as she is now."

Speaking of this, there are two farming models in Dachu. One is that all harvests go to the landlords, and farmers only receive wages and basic rations.

The second type is for farmers to contract their fields and pay the landlord a certain amount of grain per mu.

However, most landlords operate in the first mode, which is easier to manage.

The second type of contracted farmland is mostly managed by government officials, because the yamen don’t have that much time to take care of farm matters, so it is most convenient to rent it to tenants.

Although the main business of the four major families is business, they also have a lot of land in their hands. In the past, they only needed to pay farmers 200 cash per month, but now it has increased to 800 cash. However, there are still very few people who are willing to stay.

The biggest reason is that in the slums, not only can you receive relief grain and relief money, but you don't have to pay exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes. Who wouldn't want this good opportunity to eat without working.

In the past, the annual head tax of 12 taels had already suppressed the common people.

If there are 6 people in the family, that’s 72 taels! Which family can afford it!

In the past, everyone had no choice but to settle down and grit their teeth. Ever since Xiao Jiuxi built the slums and exempted them from exorbitant taxes, people have fled to the slums one after another.

"Tell me, will the princess cancel the benefits of the slums because there is no one to work?"

The head of the Xu family, who has always been a transparent person, asked silently.

Everyone was stunned, looked at each other and started laughing.

"Although I dream about the king canceling the welfare immediately, it is impossible. Not to mention other things, there are 800,000 people currently receiving this welfare. Once it is cancelled, it will definitely arouse public outrage."

"That's right. Public anger is terrible. Didn't the former king collapse under public anger?"

At that time, the Emperor of Taihe would rather break the jade into pieces than make it whole. He burned the city before the troops came to the city. This act of disregarding the life and death of the people completely disappointed the people. Stimulated by public anger, the people took the initiative to open the city gate, which led to the final collapse of Taihe City.

.

When it comes to this matter, the faces of the four major families don't look good.

To put it bluntly, they were all slaves who had subjugated their country and had no sense of belonging to Chu. However, they were disgusted when they mentioned the previous dynasty. Who would cherish the memory of a monarch who did not care about the lives of his people?

"Forget it, forget it, don't go to court early, be careful of the old party." The head of the Liu family looked around nervously, for fear that his life would be lost if he made a mistake.

Speaking of the Old Party, this group is more troublesome than the bandits. They hide in the dark corners of Taihe City and think about rebelling against Chu and restoring peace every day. As long as they hear any common people slandering the previous dynasty, the Old Party will kill them.

They are like bereaved mad dogs, much scarier than official bandits.
Chapter completed!