Cheng Jingzhou would not talk too loudly for no reason. He also pretended to be a county magistrate and said that if he stewed meat for everyone, there would be real meat, so everyone's enthusiasm grew again.
Hey, who doesn’t care about eating meat if he can come to serve as a Yao servant?
The imperial court has already issued an order. After the autumn harvest, the dam will be built. At that time, the Ministry of Industry will send several officials over. Of course, a few experts will also be sent over. The main people doing the work are those who are serving Yao service this year. Common people.
After all, Feng County is only a small place, and building dams does not necessarily have to rely on the Ministry of Industry for the entire process.
Cheng Jingzhou had already thought about it. They should do as much preparatory work as they could. Otherwise, they would only have one month of Yao labor at that time, and the dam would not be in a good shape.
The imperial court only allocated ten thousand taels, and Cheng Jingzhou felt a toothache just thinking about it!
For such a small amount of money, if we still need to build embankments, then the designation is not enough.
Is it possible that it was posted from the government treasury?
That can't be done!
Cheng Jingzhou thought that he should test his father-in-law and ask him to help him think of ideas, and he also saw that the Holy Father relied heavily on his father-in-law. As long as he was willing to help and say a few good words, the Holy Spirit would allocate another 20,000 taels of silver to them. possible.
Of course, as the county magistrate, he had to be prepared.
What if the father-in-law refuses to help?
Or, what if the Holy One refuses to allocate funds and the Ministry of Revenue is unwilling to cooperate?
In short, it requires multiple considerations.
You can't just rely on your father-in-law to plead for mercy, you have to think of a way out.
The way out that Cheng Jingzhou pointed out was naturally not to make friends with powerful people, but to think about how to save some money to the best of his ability.
Since it is impossible to waste money and people, and there is no funding from the court, is it possible that we can only increase miscellaneous taxes?
Cheng Jingzhou's eyelids twitched. He felt that if he really did this, his wife would probably be the first to scold him!
After all, Feng County's business has just begun to improve. If I announce that I will increase miscellaneous taxes at this time, it will be like killing the goose that lays the goose to lay eggs.
Therefore, this method is not advisable.
Cheng Jingzhou's head was spinning.
It was Xie Xiuqi who gave him an idea.
"Sir, don't we have thousands of acres of wasteland to cultivate? And there is also a barren mountain. How about selling this barren mountain and getting money back?"
Cheng Jingzhou gave him a cool look: "You said it was a barren mountain, who do you think would be willing to pay for it?"
Xie Xiuqi choked and then said: "You can't farm in barren mountains, but you can plant some trees or build a house. And if you build it on a mountain, it will be cooler in summer."
It’s time to say it or not, this is really a way.
I just don’t know if there are many people who want to build houses on barren hills.
After Xie Rongzhao heard about this, he became interested.
"How about I send a message to Brother Yanqing and ask him to buy it?"
Cheng Jingzhou's face darkened: "Why are you looking for him?"
"He is rich!"
As for the crown prince of Duke Dingguo, can he have no money?
"No, I mean you know so many rich people, why do you have to find him?"
Xie Rongzhao said without thinking: "He is the best to coax! And he originally intended to build a villa in Feng County. He has envied my Fuyuan Villa many times. Selling it to him is easier, and it can be sold for a good price." High price!”
Cheng Jingzhou's lips curled up. He could never admit that he was jealous.
After all, Wang Yanqing was married and his son was born. He and Guobao should have an innocent brother-sister relationship. He had to insist on this.
"But this is a barren mountain." Cheng Jingzhou thought of another excuse: "We can't cheat our friends."
"What do I think it is? This is easy to handle! When my family bought the hilltop of Fuyuan Villa, it was also a barren hill. Don't worry, leave this to me. I will tell him how to do it and keep it for two or three years. It will make a big difference there!”
Cheng Jingzhou was still a little reluctant.
But what my wife said makes sense.
Wang Yanqing is rich. If you don't cheat him, who will?
There were rumors in the capital that Wang Yanqing had fallen in love with the little boy and sold him to him at a high price just to get revenge!
Cheng Jingzhou's strange brain circuit actually figured it out in such a weird way.
So, the couple negotiated amicably and quickly set a price for the barren mountain, and also changed it to a nice name, so that Wang Yanqing would not be unhappy again.
The hilltop was not small, and Wang Yanqing was also generous. Knowing that Xie Rongzhao and Cheng Jingzhou wanted to do something practical for Feng County, they naturally did their part and paid the price happily without paying back the price.
Not only that, Wang Yanqing also arranged for his men to open another pawn shop in Feng County. Now, Feng County was bustling.
There used to be only one pawn shop in Feng County. Whether you were a squire or a commoner, if you wanted to pawn something when you were in urgent need of money, you could only go to this one. There is no way, no choice.
It's different now.
With the second option, if you think about exchanging money for use, you have to think about which one gives you more money, right?
Cheng Jingzhou's progress was very gratifying, but things were not going well for the husband of Jiahua County Lord, Du Zhihe.
Not only did he fail to clear his father-in-law, but he also got involved in a life-and-death lawsuit.
Now, Lord Jiahua County could not sit still.
It's just that she is just a female family member after all. For this kind of thing, the most she can do is cry and beg. But the problem is that this case is not in the capital. Even if the Jiahua County Lord has connections and people, he can't do it. Power.
Emperor Jingwen felt relieved now.
Cheng Jingzhou, who was rewarded for his meritorious service, naturally had to be punished for his incompetence.
What a coincidence, Du Zhihe caught up!
The final result was that Emperor Jingwen brought him back for the sake of the late father of Jiahua County Lord. However, he was dismissed from his official position and he should reflect on himself at home.
As for the difficulties, Emperor Jingwen would naturally have to send people to make up for it, so the officials had another hard time.
This time around, since last year, there have been no more than thirty officials dismissed.
But basically they are all minor officials, and the highest one so far is only a fifth-rank official. They are considered the middle and lower classes of the court and have not yet moved to the upper echelons.
Of course, in the capital, there was a man like Cheng Jingzhou who was so bold that he directly moved a member of the royal family and convinced several other nobles to accept that they should pay taxes and clear the land.
The Lord of Jiahua County didn't think it was a big deal that Du Zhihe lost his official status. After all, Du Zhihe was only a minor official before, so the emperor only rewarded her because of her face.
Nowadays, they are just idle at home, which doesn't matter. Anyway, their wealth is huge, which will not hinder their life of wealth.
Even the head of Jiahua County thought this was good, at least her husband could stay with her every day. (End of chapter)
