Ezhou?
Zhu Tianzheng nodded, "It's been more than two months, there should be some news over there, how about it?"
Eunuch Cao was hesitant.
Zhu Tianzheng's face darkened, "If you have something to say, just say it, whatever it is like."
Eunuch Cao did not dare to neglect, so he had to say: "Your Majesty, the situation may not be good."
"..."
Yang Guozhong was originally busy in the household department.
Suddenly I received the summons.
When he arrived at the Imperial Study Room, Zhu Tianzheng was looking gloomy and extremely ugly.
"Let me ask you, how much silver has been allocated to Ezhou New City in total?"
Yang Guozhong did not dare to neglect and said quickly: "Your Majesty, so far, the amount of silver allocated has exceeded 10 million taels."
Zhu Tianzheng hummed: "It's only been less than three months, why did you spend so much money?"
Yang Guozhong said: "Your Majesty, the Household Department only manages the Xincheng Bank. The specific expenses are decided by the second and third princes. The use and amount of each amount of money are recorded in the Household Department."
"As for why so much was used, I remember that the two biggest ones were to compensate the people for their land and to build palaces."
Zhu Tianzheng asked: "Compensate the people for their land use?"
"yes!"
Yang Guozhong said, "The new city planning requires a large area of land. It is okay to say that it belongs to the imperial court, but a lot of it belongs to local gentry and farmers."
Zhu Tianzheng asked: "How did the fourth child deal with it before?"
"Back to Your Majesty, I specifically asked the Fourth Highness. Your Highness's principle is that if you can't requisition, you won't requisition it. If you can requisition mountainous land, you won't requisition farmland. Once it is requisitioned, compensation must be in place. It is necessary to exchange fields for fields or use money to compensate. Satisfy the people."
"Ezhou is a land of plenty. I have learned that a large area of farmland will be acquired for the new city's location. The second and third princes asked their subordinates to allocate relevant funds. I dare not delay the progress of the new city."
Zhu Tianzheng's face became more and more gloomy, "So, you have already allocated all the money?"
Yang Guozhong said: "Exactly!"
But he was sneering in his heart.
Because he had already received the news that the money was not distributed to the people at all, perhaps not completely, to the two prodigal sons, and a large part of it was misappropriated by them for other purposes.
It’s not about corruption, it’s about starting numerous projects at the same time in order to speed up progress.
For them, the whole world belongs to their Lao Zhu family, and they have to pay for requisitioning some land. Is there any royal law?
If it weren't for Lin Bai's experience, they wouldn't have given him even a token reward.
After all, the brothers are here to develop Ezhou and contribute to Ezhou. You unscrupulous people still want compensation?
Wouldn't it be better to save this money to make the new city bigger?
He is a prince after all.
According to their concept, there is actually nothing wrong. Even Qin Zhengqing and Fan Renli may not think there is anything wrong, and just giving some symbolically is enough.
A group of unscrupulous people can't make any big waves at all. It's enough to suppress the news.
In fact, the news was indeed suppressed.
This has been going on for some time.
Yang Guozhong had known about it for a long time and wanted to report it several times, but Yan Laohu said that there was no power in releasing the floodgates as soon as the flood came, so he had to fill up the water first.
"Your Majesty, is there something wrong?"
Yang Guozhong asked deliberately, feeling extremely happy.
Of course he knew something was wrong.
Because the two prodigal sons made the stall too big, and because of the compensation issue, the people were dissatisfied. Although these people could not do anything, the matter spread.
This kind of behavior has discouraged some businessmen who were originally interested.
The result was that the two prodigal sons held another bidding fair in Ezhou, but there were only a few businessmen bidding.
Not only were there no new businessmen joining the project, but many of those who had bid before began to delay the construction period for various reasons. They wanted to see the situation first, because they were afraid that they would lose all their money after investing too much.
Some people even want the two prodigal sons to buy back the contracts in their hands.
And the two prodigal sons did not disappoint Yang Guozhong.
Another wave of assists.
They felt that the new city was so grand, how could it not have a palace? In the future, when the construction of the new city was completed, the father would come to inspect it in person and there would be a place to live, so the two of them decided to build a palace.
After all, it was for His Majesty. Qin Zhengqing and Fan Renli felt that as long as they controlled the costs, there shouldn't be a big problem.
Moreover, it can also be promoted. If His Majesty is here in person, those businessmen will definitely be more active and hardworking.
But when it comes to the implementation process of the two prodigal sons, it is another matter.
Not to mention that it occupies a large area, everything else is good.
Extremely luxurious!
Businessmen looked at this situation and realized that this was not for development, but for chaos. They began to worry that more and more people were delaying construction, not daring to carry out construction, and wanted to decide according to the situation.
This is the importance of confidence.
Once businessmen lose confidence, how can they dare to invest randomly?
That's all real money.
The people who lost their land originally expected to make a living on the construction site, but now that there is less construction work, the people can no longer live, and there are complaints.
Seeing this situation, businessmen are even more afraid to invest, thus forming a vicious circle.
What's even more outrageous is.
In order to save money, the workers who built the palace were hired by the local government as corvees. To put it bluntly, they did not need to be paid.
In ancient times, corvees were used to build palaces for the emperor. It was very reasonable to use corvees.
The two prodigal sons didn't think it was unreasonable at all.
Even Qin Zhengqing and Fan Renli didn't think it was unreasonable. This was just a difference in concept.
Although they were reasonable, the result was that no one had high expectations for this new city, which became a big mountain weighing on the people of Ezhou.
Therefore, in less than three months, most of Ezhou New Town has already come to a standstill.
Many people who lost their land asked the government for land, and some mass incidents occurred.
Of course, these incidents were suppressed.
But Lao Zhu obviously didn't feel at ease with the two prodigal sons, so he kept people watching, and that's why today's questioning came about.
He even heard about the construction of palaces and land acquisition.
I also didn't think there was a big problem.
To put it bluntly, it is still a matter of concept.
It is a pity that those businessmen have been manipulated by great talents. Without comparison, there will be no harm.
In comparison, of course, it is safer to follow a great talent. Following these two prodigal sons, you might be cut off from the leeks one day. But it is different for the great talents. From Ping'an County to Changjin County, and then to the southwest, not only are there no leeks cut, When something happens, once a businessman's interests are harmed, great talents will solve it immediately, so...
Although Lao Zhu knew it, the fact that things happened like this undoubtedly made him very angry.
These two bastards "do more than succeed and fail more than they succeed."
"Go! Get these two bastards back to me. I want to ask them what they did."
…
