Zhang Yanling entered the palace the next day, and after meeting her queen sister, she basically knew the whole story. Zhang Yanling sighed and thought to herself, history books say that Hongzhi was a good emperor, but from this incident it can be said that
It can be seen that Hongzhi is by no means a good emperor.
He is a good man, a good husband, and a good relative, but he is definitely not a good emperor. In order to make his relatives and ministers happy, he can unprincipledly reward land, grant privileges, and protect his relatives. He does not consider at all what this will bring to the country and the country.
The harm and extremely bad influence it had. This shows that he has little sense of responsibility for the Ming Dynasty.
After confirming that all this was true, Zhang Yanling no longer had any psychological burden. Now that the ban had been broken, he could buy it if Zhou Shou could buy it. He had sworn not to ask the emperor for acres of land as a reward, as the Ming Dynasty
A dynasty poacher, but a poacher from someone else
Grabbing it with your hands is not considered a violation of the oath. In addition, Zhang Yanling has also understood that if he wants to accumulate a lot of wealth quickly, there is no faster and more convenient way than to encircle the land. Whether it is used as an industry or resold, it is fertile land.
Land is an extremely sought-after hard currency.
Zhang Yanling did not make a big show of it. He first sent Huang Si and his people to Baodi County quietly to inquire about the Zhou family's acquisition of the four hundred hectares of 'wasteland' north of Baodi County. Zhang Yanling knew that everything needed to be done quickly and quietly.
And they have to get ahead of the Zhou family. The Zhou family got the emperor's permission to buy land.
He must have thought that he was sure of it and that no one would compete with him. With the virtue of the Zhou family, they would have aggressively lowered the price and even used other means to steal. Therefore, it was impossible for them to complete the transaction quickly. And the more the Zhou family lowered the price, the more they paid.
He is an opportunity to quickly close a deal and seize love.
One day later, Huang Si came back after inquiring about the news and brought the news that Zhang Yanling was looking forward to and expected. The Zhou family was vigorously mobilizing people to sell land, and through the local county magistrate, they used the recovery of taxes from the previous year as a means of oppression.
The people were forced to sell their land at extremely low prices. According to the news heard by Huang Sitan, the Zhou family had lowered the price per acre of land to 20,000 to 200,000 yuan per acre.
The price of good-quality farmland in the capital is around 10 taels, medium-grade land is 78 taels an acre, and low-grade land is at least 5 taels an acre. The price of land in Baodi County may not be as high as that near the capital, but it is not as low as 20 taels or 200 taels.
This price is like killing someone with a knife.
Huang Si said that the Zhou family gave the people five days to consider. If they refused to sell the land at this price, they would ask the Baodi County magistrate to start arresting people for refusing to pay taxes. They also threatened that the land would be confiscated and the land would be confiscated.
It's not worth the money either.
After receiving such news, Zhang Yanling immediately decided to leave for Baodi. He had to purchase the land before the Zhou family's deadline, because the people would eventually give in and their arms could not twist their thighs.
So Zhang Yanling immediately invited Zhang Heling to discuss it, and Zhang Heling also believed that he must act as soon as possible. Regardless of success or failure, he must meet the Zhou family's deadline. The two brothers acted quickly, and Zhang Heling has indeed concentrated all the money he can gather in the past few days.
He got up, moved here and there, borrowed tens of thousands taels, and collected 100,000 taels of silver. Zhang Yanling
In addition to the construction cost and daily expenses of the dam, more than 20,000 taels of silver were collected. In total, more than 120,000 taels of silver were collected to load five large carts. All the male servants and nurses in the two houses
They were all gathered together to form a team of nearly forty people, who braved the scorching sun in the afternoon and left the capital for Baodi County.
Although the journey was not too far, we were very cautious because we were carrying a large amount of silver. The security situation outside the capital was not peaceful either. In recent years, there have been many refugees. Some were begging everywhere, while others were occupying mountains.
Being a king and becoming a bandit, you have to be extra careful. Everyone who accompanied the Zhang brothers actually brought weapons, bows, arrows, clubs and other items, just in case something unexpected happened.
Fortunately, the journey was uneventful. At noon the next day, we arrived at Beitingkou Town, Baodi County, and found an inn where the carriage and horses stopped. After lunch, Zhang Yanling and Zhang Heling discussed it and decided that Zhang Heling would be in charge of the inn.
I dress lightly
He went to more than a dozen villages ten miles away to understand the situation on the spot and decide on countermeasures. In order to prevent him from bumping into the Zhou family, Zhang Yanling changed into short clothes, wore a torn straw hat, and pretended to be a walking porter and rope with a pole and rope.
Seven or eight servants set off together.
Not far from the town to the south, there is a large area of Pingchou fields. The rice in the fields is growing luxuriantly. It is almost the earing season now, and the rice in many fields already has green rice flowers blowing in the wind, making it full of vitality.
However, Zhang Yanling looked at the roots of the seedlings and saw a worrying situation.
The roots of the seedlings are densely covered with rice planthoppers and dark-brown eggs. This shows that the pest infestation here is extremely serious and has reached the edge of an outbreak. These seedlings look green and full of life, but in fact they are stunted.
.If the pests are not eliminated promptly, the harvest will be severely reduced.
Last year, there was no harvest due to pests. This year, the pests have returned, and the hard work of the people has been wasted again.
Walking along the field road, there was a hill in front of it. There was a village under the hill. When everyone approached the entrance of the village, they saw seven or eight people sitting by the well railing under the big locust tree at the entrance of the village, with their trousers rolled up.
The frowning people didn't know what they were talking about, and sighs were heard from time to time. The arrival of Zhang Yanling and others attracted the attention of these people, and some people turned their heads and looked this way.
"The weather is really hot. It's almost August and it's still extremely hot. Can you guys ask for a drink of water?" Zhang Yanling approached with a smile and said, cupping her hands.
"It's really hot, and the well water is cool, just right to quench your thirst. I'll get fresh ones for you."
An old man pulled a bucket of water from the well using a windlass. Zhang Yanling took a few sips of the water and praised, "It's so cool and comfortable."
Several old men looked at Zhang Yanling and others and laughed. The old man fetching water laughed and said: "Why are you walking outside at noon on such a hot day?"
Zhang Yanling pointed to the pole rope placed on the ground and said: "We are porters, delivering goods to the town for others. When we are done, we rush back to the county town."
"Oh." Several old men suddenly realized that they looked like porters with their big, round waists.
"What's the name of your village? This is our first time here." Zhang Yanling chatted, fanning the wind with her straw hat.
"Oh, ours is called Shuikou Village. This is the mouth of several rivers that converge into one big river, so it's called that." The old man fetching water said with a smile.
"Oh, it's a good place. The mountains and rivers are beautiful, and the fields are very fertile. You must be living a good life. Look at these seedlings, they are all beginning to ear. I'm afraid it will be a good harvest this year." Zhang Yanling laughed.
The old man had a wry smile on his face, and several old farmers sitting next to him also had wry smiles on their faces.
"I can tell at a glance that you haven't planted any fields. These seedlings look like they are growing well, but they are full of insects. Last year, there was no harvest due to insect pests, and this year there is nothing to harvest. Alas, this year the whole family will have to go out to beg for food.
This land...hey, I can't plant anything." The old man fetching water sighed.