In Yingtian Mansion, Yang Jun, the Prime Minister of the Mansion, was working at his desk and was informed that Fang Xiaoru, the Minister of the East Palace, asked to see him.
Although Yang Jun's official position is much higher than that of Fang Xiaoru, and unlike Fang Xiaoru who has a false position, he is the real second in command of Yingtian Mansion. However, Fang Xiaoru's reputation in the scholarly community was extremely high, and it was not something that Yang Jun could compare to.
"Please." He quickly put down the documents in his hand, and Yang Jun suddenly stood up and followed the yamen servant out.
Arriving at a side room, Yang Junren smiled without saying a word as soon as he showed up. He started to raise his hands from the door and said: "Master Fang is here to welcome you. I am late to welcome you. Please forgive me, forgive me..."
Fang Xiaoru also stood up with a smile and returned the greeting: "Mr. Yang is being polite, but I am being rude."
The two of them smiled, exchanged a few words, and sat down one after another.
Without Yang Jun's instructions, officials would naturally serve tea immediately.
The two of them bowed to each other, and after taking a sip of tea, Yang Jun took the lead and asked, "Master Fang is here. Is there anything Yang can do for you?"
Fang Xiaoru laughed and responded politely: "Master Yang, you are too polite. I will not go to the Three Treasures Hall for anything. Master Yang expected it well. I do have something to ask of you."
"Master Fang, no matter what you say, as long as Yang can do it, I will never refuse." Yang Jun said this very beautifully, and even gave people the impression that he could help you and was a bit generous. But in fact, this is just a polite statement. If he can do it, he will not refuse it. Then, if he can't do it, can he just refuse it? Moreover, there is no standard for whether this can be done, it is completely determined by Yang Jun.
This Yang Jun didn't promise Fang Xiaoru anything at all, but was sitting on the wall and watching, depending on the situation.
Of course Fang Xiaoru understood the meaning of his words, but Fang Xiaoru didn't think that he would refuse to agree to a small matter of buying land at the wharf.
He said directly: "Master Yang, that's what it is. As for me, I want to pay to buy the dock. I wonder if Master Yang can be accommodating?"
Buy land!
Yang Jun instantly became alert. Now the land around Han's horse farm is simply rising, and countless people are discussing it. I don’t know how many people are regretting that if they had collected the land around the racecourse earlier, they would have made a fortune by now. But they also don’t think about who bought the land in the first place.
Yang Jun is naturally not as naive as ordinary people, thinking that he can also swallow the huge profits that others can take. However, this incident still shocked Yang Jun greatly. Now that he heard that Fang Xiaoru wanted to buy land, his heart suddenly became alert.
Seeing Fang Xiaoru looking straight at him after finishing speaking, Yang Jun did not say anything casually, but calmly took a sip of tea, calmed himself down for a while, and then asked: "I don't know if it's Fang." Sir, do you want to buy it yourself, or..."
While talking, Yang Jun stared at Fang Xiaoru closely, his eyes unblinking.
Fang Xiaoru couldn't help but frown, raised his eyes to look at Yang Jun, and asked doubtfully: "Master Yang, what do you mean?"
Perhaps he got the answer he wanted, Yang Jun laughed, waved his hand and explained: "Yang has no other meaning, just curious and wants to ask, is this for Mr. Fang to buy for himself? Or is he buying it for others? Lord Fang, don’t mind. After all, everyone knows the relationship between Lord Fang and Marquis Zhenhai.
Haha, after all, the several purchases of land by the Marquis of Zhenhai made many people beat their chests and regretted it, and even made people lose their reputation. Yang just didn't want to follow in the footsteps of those people, so Yang just wanted to ask more clearly. "
Yang Jun's words made Fang Xiaoru unable to refute, and at the same time he sighed at Han Du's great power. Without hesitation, Fang Xiaoru nodded and said, "Actually, this pier is not bought by me, nor by Han Du, but by the academy."
Yang Jun felt relieved when he heard that it wasn't Han Du who wanted to buy it, but when he heard that it was the academy that wanted to buy it, he couldn't help but become curious. "Oh? Why does the academy buy a dock?"
It’s good to teach and educate people in the academy, so why buy a pier? Such strange behavior made Yang Jun even more curious.
Fang Xiaoru was silent for a moment, and then hesitantly said: "Well, the academy is doing a research and wants to try using the dock..."
Yang Jun immediately understood that Fang Xiaoru had not told him the truth, but he did not reveal it to his face. Sitting upright, he subconsciously rubbed his fingers and muttered: "Although this dock is technically the land of Yingtian Mansion, a large amount of goods are loaded and unloaded there every day. If I sell it, what will happen to it?" I'm afraid it will harm my reputation, right? At least, I can't escape the label of competing with the people for profit."
Although Yang Jun didn't say it clearly, his meaning was very clear, that is, he would not sell it!
Fang Xiaoru did not insist and asked instead: "What about the land next to the pier? Can Sir, sell it to the academy?"
This was something Han Du and Fang Xiaoru had discussed a long time ago. There was little hope of buying the dock directly. Ying Tianfu was not a fool. As soon as the Academy bought the dock, they would definitely find a way to drag it in and check the situation first. Moreover, there are so many goods that need to be loaded at this terminal every day. If it is bought, it will definitely need to be rebuilt. Wouldn't this delay the loading and unloading of goods?
Therefore, Handu was not ready to buy the terminal directly from the beginning. The reason why it is brought up in this way is to pave the way for the real purpose.
Yang Jun rejected Fang Xiaoru's first request, so he couldn't refuse the second one, right? Yang Jun refused Fang Xiaoru to buy the dock, which was somewhat reasonable.
It makes sense, after all, this dock seems to be quite important. If he insists not to sell it, no one can say anything to him.
But the land next to the pier was originally a wasteland on the river beach. If he refuses Fang Xiaoru's request again, he will have the tendency to offend others.
Yang Jun is also a smart man. When Fang Xiaoru changed his mind, he immediately understood that the wasteland next to the dock was Fang Xiaoru's real purpose.
But knowing that he knew it, he couldn't refuse Fang Xiaoru anymore. After sighing slightly, he said with a forced smile: "Of course, it is just a piece of wasteland that even the people are unwilling to cultivate. If the academy wants it, I can certainly sell it to the academy. I just don't know how much money the academy is prepared to spend. How much do you want to buy?”
"How much do you want, sir?" Fang Xiaoru asked instead of asking directly.
"One hundred dollars per acre." Yang Jun spoke in a very soft voice, completely understatement. It seems that in his opinion, the price is not high at all.
But when Fang Xiaoru heard this, his eyes suddenly widened. Although Han Du had already discussed with him that the price of the land would not be too low, he thought it would be the price of fertile land at most.
"How much? Mr. Yang, if you don't want to sell, just say so. Why are you asking for so much?"
Facing Fang Xiaoru's stern questioning, Yang Jun did not feel the slightest bit embarrassed. Instead, he said with a smile: "Master Fang, although you bought the land for the academy, I can't sell it to you at a high price. But you also know, The Marquis of Zhenhai is also the academy judge, so I have to leave a way out. If the price of these lands increases in the future, I can give everyone an explanation, right?"
"No, this price is too high and the academy will not accept it." Fang Xiaoru shook his head repeatedly and stood up to leave, "Ordinary land only has ten or twenty acres per acre, and your wasteland only has a few acres at most. Now you But it’s impossible to sell it for ten times the price. I’ll excuse you for today and say goodbye.”
Yang Jun saw Fang Xiaoru walking towards the door without any hesitation. Yang Jun suddenly panicked, and he was also afraid that Fang Xiaoru would be frightened by the high price. After all, this money was picked up for free. It would be a pity to miss it.
"Brother Fang!" Yang Jun quickly stood up and stepped forward to hold Fang Xiaoru.
Fang Xiaoru suddenly felt enlightened. He stopped and looked back at Yang Jun. He sighed and shook his head and said, "Mr. Yang, at your price, the academy really has no way to buy it. Besides, the academy just wants to make an experiment. If it costs too much, If it’s too much, it’s not worth it, so it’s better to give up.”
"What did Brother Fang say? Who doesn't know that the academy is rich?" Yang Jun didn't know the situation of the academy, but now that the academy is the financial sponsor, it is natural to praise the financial sponsor vigorously.
"I'm afraid Mr. Yang also knows the situation of the academy. Although there is some income, so many students in the academy are admitted completely free of charge, and the academy also provides them with food, clothing, housing and transportation every month. This expense is huge, where is the money? ?" Since Yang Jun strongly praised him, Fang Xiaoru naturally had to do the opposite. Anyway, everyone is working towards the side that is most beneficial to themselves.
Pulling Fang Xiaoru to sit down again, Yang Juncai continued: "The price is negotiable. Since Brother Fang thinks that one hundred dollars per acre is too high, I and Brother Fang hit it off as soon as I met him today, so I made the decision on my own. Ninety How about nine acres and one acre?"
Your love at first sight is only worth a lot of money? Fang Xiaoru suddenly felt contempt in his heart. Of course, he was not polite to Yang Jun and casually raised the price to five dollars.
After some extreme push and pull, the two finally reached an agreement and settled the deal at sixty guan per acre, and the land purchased by the academy could not be less than 50 acres.
Moreover, Yang Jun deliberately sold only river beach land to the academy. Therefore, when Fang Xiaoru got the title deed, it was a piece of land extending along the Yangtze River.
Han Du saw Fang Xiaoru come back with a bad look on his face, took the land deed from his hand, took a look at it and nodded with satisfaction. Asked the reason for Fang Xiaoru's depression, Han Du smiled and consoled him: "Sixty pounds per acre is not expensive, so why should Brother Fang be worried about it?"
"I know that this price is not expensive for us, but I was thinking, this means that you can only accept such a price if you have the ability to turn stone into gold. But what if it is ordinary people? How can they accept it?" Fang Xiaoru These doubts have been suppressed since Yingtian Mansion, but now they are finally able to express them.
Han Du said nonchalantly: "Ordinary people will not buy any river beach land."
"That's... that's true." Fang Xiaoru had to nod and admit, the people wouldn't even look for riverbank land to cultivate wasteland, so how could they spend money to buy it? But these riverbanks, which are of no use in the eyes of the people, are worth gold in the eyes of Han Du.
Regarding this, Fang Xiaoru had to admire Han Du. He was always able to see business opportunities that others could not see, and he was always able to make money that others could not make, and he made a lot of money.
"Okay, now that we have the land, you should follow our plan and find someone to build the dock as soon as possible." Han Du folded up the land deed, handed it to Fang Xiaoru, and then got up and went home.
Fang Xiaoru nodded and took the land deed. Looking at Han Du's leaving figure, he couldn't help but shake his head to get rid of the distracting thoughts in his head. Looking down at the land deed in his hand, it was better to focus on what was in front of him first.
...
I don’t know how Empress Ma argued with Lao Zhu, but Zhu Ping’s move to overseas finally came to an end. And Han Du thought Lao Zhu would be
It was different when Zhu Ping was transferred to the continent. Lao Zhu placed Zhu Ping in Annan. According to Zhu Biao, this was the result of Empress Ma's strenuous argument with Lao Zhu. The reason was that she wanted Zhu Ping to be closer and she could recall him at any time when she missed him. They even postponed Zhu Xiang's departure to the sea for a few months, just to see more of Zhu Xiang before he left the sea.
Han Du didn't know how Lao Zhu agreed, but there was an urgent problem.
"Is what your Highness said true? But Anping is in such chaos right now. How can the King of Qin be enfeoffed here?"
Next to Anping is Annan. Annan is now eyeing Anping covetously. What did Lao Zhu think about entrusting such land to his son?
Zhu Biao looked at Han Du meaningfully and asked meaningfully: "Don't you understand yet? Father is going to take action against Annan."
Take action?
Han Du felt something in his heart. Annan had indeed become much more hostile to Ming in recent years. Especially after Handu wiped out the Japanese pirates, occupied Anping County, and the Ming Dynasty established the Governor's Palace here, he regarded the Ming Dynasty as an enemy.
In the Nanyang Thirty-Third Governor's Mansion, everything else was relatively peaceful. At most, when the natives made trouble, they would send troops to suppress it. And due to the vast fighting power of the natives, it was a one-sided massacre in front of the Ming army's firearms, and it ended without even being considered a decent battle.
But the situation in the Anping Governor's Mansion was completely different. Not only were they harassed by Annan from time to time, but occasionally Annan would launch a large army to attack the Governor's Mansion, although he was repulsed by the Anping Governor every time. But if there are too many ants, they will kill the elephant. If it were not for the naval backing and timely replenishment of troops, I am afraid that the Anping Governor's Mansion would have been taken back by Annan.
For this reason, the Ming court sent envoys to Annan more than once, hoping that Annan would transfer Anping County to the Ming Dynasty and stop attacking Anping.
This request may seem a bit overbearing, but Anping County was not originally from Annan. It was originally occupied by Japanese pirates. For the Ming Dynasty, since it belonged to the Japanese pirates, after the Japanese pirates were eliminated by the Ming Dynasty, this place would naturally become the territory of the Ming Dynasty.
There is nothing wrong with this at all!
But for Annan, their ideas are different. In the eyes of the Annan monarchs and ministers, they could not afford to offend the Japanese pirates. After all, the Japanese pirates really knew how to burn, kill, and loot without restraint. They knew it would hurt if a steel knife was struck on their heads. But they are not afraid of the Ming Dynasty, because in their view, the Ming Dynasty is a country of etiquette, and they must be reasonable before doing anything.
Anping is close to the sea on one side and borders Annan on the other. It should naturally belong to Annan. Even if the Ming Dynasty wiped out the Japanese pirates in Anping, it should take the initiative to return Anping to Annan.
After all, the Ming Dynasty is a celestial kingdom. How can it take advantage of a small country like theirs? Isn't it natural to fight for them and eliminate the Japanese pirates?
It is precisely because of this that Annan used various ridiculous reasons to prevaricate Ming Dynasty's several discussions.
Now it seems that Lao Zhu can't bear it anymore and decides that he doesn't need to bear it anymore.
Also, this Annan didn't even look at Lao Zhu's temper. He really thought that Lao Zhu had given up everything in the world after consultation with others.
Han Du sneered in his heart and was completely uninterested in Annan, the frog in the well.
...
The addition of cement made the construction of the wharf faster. Anyway, Handu doesn't require the dock to be built perfectly, as long as the gantry crane can be lowered.
From the first day of construction of the new wharf, people were curious about what it was going to do. As time went by, the full picture of the whole wharf was slowly revealed. After the tall gantry crane was assembled and installed, people were surprised by how tall it was. However, I am completely confused as to what this thing does.
Han Du was not prepared to explain to anyone, so he directly found a boat and sailed it under the gantry crane. Watching the heavy cargo being lifted by the huge iron hook, it was easily lifted onto the ship in less than ten breaths. The whole process was smooth and concise.
There was no need for Han Du to do any publicity. This scene had long been seen by the ship owners who were watching the loading and unloading of cargo at the nearby dock. They were all dumbfounded and came forward to ask Han Du if he could also help them load and unload the cargo. The price was easy to talk about. .
Han Du was originally targeting these ship owners, so he naturally accepted all their requests. With a wave of his hand, he found a group of students who were good at mathematics in the academy and asked them to deal with these densely packed ship owners.
These students not only understand mathematics, but also have learned related accounting knowledge. They can specify the cargo of each ship, classifying it into types and weights. Anyway, with this group of people who are good at calculation, the academy will not suffer any loss.
It was the first time that the Ming Dynasty had such a huge machine, which naturally attracted people to watch. Even if it is blocked by a wall and cannot touch it up close, being able to see how the gantry crane works from a distance can still be inexplicably exciting.
"Look, such a big box can be hoisted easily..."
"Yes, I sell rice. Look at the size of the box. If it's all rice grains, it would weigh at least several thousand kilograms..."
"How many kilograms? I think it's tens of thousands of kilograms..."
Among the bursts of exclamations, exaggerations about the gantry crane were naturally inevitable.
Even Lao Zhu was attracted to take a look in person. Of course, Lao Zhu was different from the people who were blocked outside the wall. He could observe the gantry crane at close range.
