There are a large number of Zhuangzi outside Tokyo. As the largest landowner in the Song Dynasty, the old Zhao family naturally cannot let their relatives have no land. No matter in which era, land is wealth. There is no doubt about this.
Therefore, the clan naturally has land. Since the clan has land, the generals who follow the old Zhao family to conquer the world must also have it. Otherwise, Taizu's face would be a bit uneasy about releasing his military power over a cup of wine. Even the military generals have land, so of course the civil servants have land.
, Tokyo city is a place where every inch of land is valuable, so the land outside Tokyo city is naturally nobler than elsewhere. There are many Zhuangzi outside the city, and they are all the homes of high-ranking officials and dignitaries.
Zhuangzi outside the city is often one after another, but the strange thing is that the land closest to Tokyo City belongs to ordinary people, that is, the farmers who originally cultivated here.
This is the face of the country and a fig leaf for the ruling class. In the words of the later ambassador, it establishes a "dignity of the common people." But it is this dignity of the common people that makes everyone feel the goodwill of the old Zhao family.
Although there were many excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, they rarely forced people to death, especially the people near Tokyo City. As for those local uprisings, the people in Tokyo City pretended not to see them.
It is precisely because the land close to Tokyo City belongs to the common people that there has never been any talk of road monopoly. As soon as they heard that Ye Hou wanted to use their own roads to build roads, the common people shared it without saying a word.
Ye An sent someone to send a thank you gift, but after his daughter-in-law accepted it, she was beaten back by the old man with a cane. The reason is simple. In the eyes of the people, building roads and bridges is a good deed. If you charge money for such a good deed, wouldn't it be a disaster?
Lightning strike?
So the craftsmen at the Hou Mansion collectively decided to replace all the roads for the old man with cement. Even as a way to repay the family's kindness, Ye An spoke highly of the work of his "construction team".
This is not only to express gratitude to the old man, but also to accumulate a good reputation for the Hou Mansion. Reputation is something that cannot be seen or touched, but it is hard to buy. Especially in this era, it has great hidden value.
As there are more and more examples like this, the reputation of the Hou Mansion in Tokyo is getting better and better. Coupled with the support of several charity activities of Puhui Company, the business is becoming more and more prosperous.
After leaving the Nanxun Gate and walking ten miles along the official road, numerous Zhuangzi appeared in front of us, and the most unusual of these Zhuangzi was that of the Yunzhong County Marquis Mansion.
Tall chimneys, bustling brick kilns, workshops with huge ceilings, woodware, ironware, pottery, and even porcelain are constantly being produced, as well as various fabrics and ready-made clothes. It is like an integrated park.
As the scale of Zhuangzi expanded, more and more land was needed, but Ye An would rather spend money to buy the surrounding wasteland in Kaifeng Mansion than accept the fertile land donated by the people.
Then a strange scene appeared. There was a lot of land in Yezhuang that did not belong to the prince's mansion, but was the private property of the common people. Some people said that Ye An was a fool and did not want the land he donated, but no one knew that this was also Ye An's concern for the people.
The greatest kindness in this era.
Is land valuable? Of course it is, but in the face of huge capital, the land in the hands of farmers is worthless. Can things that can be bought with money be considered valuable?
This seems like a paradox, but the reality is such a magic. Some farmers are in trouble and are willing to sell their land to the Hou Mansion. They can buy eight acres of land for a mere thirty guan. You must know that a pig can
Tokyo City has been able to sell for a consistently high price of five.
Ye An's method is to lend money to farmers and repay it in installments just like Tokyo City. Sometimes only ten guan or even eight guan can help people tide over the difficulties.
This avoids the situation of over-squeezing the people. This is the case in Yezhuang, and most of the surrounding Zhuangzi follow suit. Needless to say, the Li family.
But the Cao family are smart people. They have discovered huge business opportunities and directly lend money to farmers who are in difficulty. However, they have to charge a certain amount of interest, but the interest rate is much lower. The purpose is to increase the volume. As long as they lend enough
, you can get considerable profits, which is equivalent to a white wolf with nothing.
It's just that not everyone can imitate such a move. After all, the Cao family has a great business and has accumulated considerable wealth. Investments with this wealth will naturally yield returns. But even so, there is still no progress in the early stage.
I have to say that Zhao Yingji is a smart person. If it weren't for her status, and she was too greedy and did wrong things when she shouldn't have been, she wouldn't have turned against the Li family, and even Cao Yi wanted to divorce her. This may be smart.
Instead, be fooled by your cleverness!
The ox-cart of the Marquis Mansion is always the most eye-catching, not because of how luxurious it looks, nor because of the special emblem formed by the two leaves, but because the carriage is spacious enough.
Although the ox-cart is slow, its endurance and physical strength are better than that of a horse-drawn carriage. The carriages of the ox-cart in the Marquis are made of fine catalpa wood, which is not only light and strong, but also resistant to water, moisture, corrosion, and insects. More importantly,
It is not warped and cracked. This wood has become a protected tree species in later generations, but in this era, no one treasures it, just because the color of the outer bark of the tree is not very good-looking.
After getting off the bullock cart, Ye An saw Lao Du from the printing shop waiting at the door. It seemed that Tieniu had told him the purpose of his trip and had also searched for him.
Before Lao Du crossed his arms, Ye An smiled and said: "Don't be too polite, let's talk while walking, how is the wooden movable type doing?"
Lao Du smiled and said: "The wooden movable type has already been formed. All the carpenters in our Yezhuang are good at it, and their craftsmanship is of course beyond praise. However, the wood is a bit troublesome. I tried it once in the printing shop before.
, even good wood will deform when soaked in water. Although it is not visible, it is more obvious when it is printed on a booklet, and it is difficult to put into the printing plate. The clay movable type mentioned by Mr. Hou is good, but in the end we failed
I think gold type is the best!”
As soon as Lao Du finished speaking, Tieniu screamed: "What?! Gold movable type?! Where can the Hou family find so much gold for you to make movable type?!"
Lao Du glanced at Tieniu with disdain: "Jin movable type is not made of gold, but means gold and iron. Copper movable type can also be used, iron movable type can also be used..."
Ye An scratched his head: "Have you ever considered movable lead type?"
"Yes, I have thought of it before, but the galvanic lead needs to be found at Li Guojian. I heard from Feng Kuai that a batch will arrive at the Tokyo City Pier tomorrow, but the galvanic lead is all used by the General Prison or Yu Qingzhao Ying Palace.
He can only try his luck and buy some at a high price..."
Ye An nodded: "That's fine. Lead is not afraid of water and fire deformation, but it is soft and easy to carve. It should be a better material for movable type. But you must be careful, lead is highly toxic, and you will get sick if you are exposed to it for a long time!
"
Lao Du smiled: "That's what you said, where did the poison come from, Mr. Hou?" Seeing that Ye An wanted to speak, he added: "It's something that is also used in the palace, what should we be afraid of?
"
Ye An suddenly frowned and asked curiously: "Why does the palace use square lead?"
Lao Du took the book from Ye An's hand without raising his head and said: "Who knows! Anyway, it will be used as a prisoner, so naturally some of the lead objects will be sent to the palace in the end!"
Ye An nodded slightly. Even if others didn't know that lead was poisonous, the imperial doctor in the palace must have known about it. It was recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica, so there was no way he would not have known about it.