North of the Great Wall, the population density decreases sharply, the cold weather is not suitable for farming, and the coverage of forests and grasslands is higher.
This is the sphere of influence of the Manchus and Mongols. Since it is relatively close to the summer resort, the Manchu and Qing nobles like to build some manors here.
Thousands of hectares of land are dotted with scattered villages. All the villagers here are servants of the high-ranking nobles, and a small number of them are tenants.
Everyone is working for the nobles of the palace. They have lived here for generations. Their annual output is enough for them to eat and drink, and the rest must be contributed to the master.
The capital is expensive, so even the prince has to find a way out. When the country was founded, the rules stipulated that the Eight Banners could not do business or engage in other occupations, but these people were not prohibited from buying manors.
Do you expect the die-hard Crops of the Eight Banners to still have a salary to live on? The final result must be starvation, so the manor is the most important economic supplement in the family industry. Sometimes the income of the manor accounts for more than 60 to 70% of the family's total income.
The Manchus were originally well suited to the cool climate north of the Great Wall. Many royal family members would come to the manor in the north for vacation in the summer. Spending the long hot summer in a manor with beautiful scenery would not be so difficult.
The Monk King was Senggelinqin, a famous Mongolian palace during the late Qing Dynasty. It was highly valued by Xianfeng but was unlucky and died tragically at the hands of the Nian Army.
The descendants of his descendants are no longer as capable as him. The family business can barely maintain itself, but the money-spending mentality cannot be broken down. Slowly, like the Jia family in The Story of the Stone, it is declining day by day.
If you don't have money to spend, you can only sell your ancestral property to survive. You can sell the Quanmaying Manor for 600,000 taels of silver. This price is simply deceiving in Sijiu City.
No one would be stupid enough to spend so much money to buy this manor. In fact, a fairer price would only be around 500,000, but today Li Tuo acted like a fool and insisted on closing the deal immediately.
When the Monk Wang family saw a fool coming to their door, were they so anxious? How about he blackmail you so hard that he won't give you any counter-offer for 600,000 cents, and he even threatens to sell it to someone else in four days.
But he didn't expect that Li Tuo didn't have enough money, so he had to win the deal with Yang Zhi.
"Master Yang, you know that I am just Zhang Jing. The court will become suspicious if I suddenly reveal my wealth... I have to buy this manor in your name!"
"Me?" Yang Zhi said angrily, "You're buying a shabby manor for 600,000 yuan? If you don't ask around, the income of 30,000 taels a year for a manor like this outside Guanwai will be over!"
"It will take me twenty years to recover the cost! What kind of bullshit business is this?"
"Twenty years is fine, won't you make money every year from now on?" Li Tuo also deliberately tried to fight with him.
"You... ok, don't give me a pass, you must have other purposes, tell me quickly!"
Li Tuo smiled slightly, "This estate in Quanmaying is not worth much, and we don't want to make money from it... But a little further east of Quanmaying, there is another large estate..."
"Sandaogou... The mountains are high, the forests are dense, the scenery is beautiful, and the entire river along the ridge is irrigated. This manor has more than 3,000 hectares of land, and half of the mountain is included. Do you know that this Whose property is it?”
"Who?" Yang Zhi stared and asked.
"Fuqing, the property of the famous Third Master Qing in Forty-Nine Cities! Even Xiao Letian's eldest wife, Fuhui, occasionally comes here for vacation!"
It turned out to be him! Yang Zhi couldn't help but nodded, "With the power of Third Master, this manor must be beautifully built...but what does this have to do with us!"
Li Tuo put away all his smiles at this moment and carefully observed the surrounding environment. He even opened the door and looked around. When he came back, he lay down next to Yang Zhi's ear and whispered.
"The following things will scare your courage. You must listen carefully... I have always told you that although we, the junior officials, are inconspicuous, we are the last pair of hands to get things done!"
"All the things that noble people in the world have to do will have to be handled by us in the end, so as long as we can unite together, there is no secret that can't be found!"
"Do you remember last year? It was a rare peaceful year in Sijiu City..."
Last year, in 1870, Xiao Letian led the expeditionary force to kill inextricable enemies in Europe. Asia would be much more peaceful without this troublemaker.
The imperial government's finances gradually eased, Zuo Jigaoding had suppressed the rebels in Gansu and Shaanxi, the economy in Jiangnan began to recover, and overseas trade became smoother and smoother.
Otherwise, it was the Tongzhi ZTE. Everything was going smoothly, so the court was relieved. There were not so many military and state affairs to deal with every day, so the queen mothers of the two palaces and the princes were also a little slack.
Especially Ci'an, who stayed in Jingshan Beiyuan on the pretext of feeling unwell, and even went to the summer resort by himself in the summer!
The court didn't even bother to read any news. The Queen Mother also made it clear that as long as it was not a major matter involving a war, it would be handled by the various ministries. When will the emperor go home and when will he come out to manage politics again?
Cixi and other princes saw that this was a good thing. The Empress Dowager had slacked off, and the rights naturally returned to their hands. For a while, they were paying greetings to the Empress Dowager, sending expensive supplements, and flattering the Empress Dowager so that she could rest in peace. It’s better to play more.
Li Tuo sneered, "But no one expected that a big scandal would happen to Ci'an last summer!"
"I also have friends in Chengde. Last spring, Fuqing bought all the mountains, forests and villages in Sandaogou from Prince Guo. He spent a total of 650,000 yuan. My friend handled the procedures in the Yamen! "
"This is nothing. Then Mr. Qing invested more than 100,000 yuan to build a house in Sandaogou. Although it is not big, it is absolutely luxurious... I began to think that this is his summer resort!"
"But what happens next is interesting... The guards of Mr. Qing's family began to leave in large numbers. The generals of the Chengde Guard Army have to register, otherwise there will be an extra armed force for no reason, and they will no longer recognize the firefight. manage?"
"Good boy, my friend was dumbfounded when he saw the roster...it's all Mauser guns, and there are more than a thousand horses registered!"
"Master Qing has five hundred guards in Sandaogou... Damn, what are you doing?"
"The mountain people in Quanma Camp are neighbors with Sandaogou. They chop wood, hunt, fish, dig herbs... they often visit each other, but guess what?"
"There are actually Gatling heavy machine guns in Sandaogou... Fuqing built many bunkers in Sandaogou, and even the heavy machine guns were hidden in them!"
"Ah? Mr. Qing is going to rebel?" Yang Zhi exclaimed.
"What kind of rebellion are you doing? A place where wolves don't poop, is it still worth beating? I think Mr. Qing just wants to hide something, he's an absolute treasure!"
"From that day on, I began to pay close attention to everything related to Third Master Qing, including people inside and outside the palace, secretly inquiring..."
"Hehehe..." Li Tuo laughed suddenly, "Last summer, the Queen Mother went to the summer resort to escape the summer heat for three months... Why was Imperial Physician Sun accompanying her?"
"My brother, Dr. Sun is a famous gynecologist. Can't you guess?"
With a bang, Yang Zhi sat down on the ground. The chairs fell over. He looked at Li Tuo as if he had seen a ghost. "Could it be that? Could it be that..."
