"County Magistrate Zhang, I heard that you agreed to let those businessmen buy the fertile land?" County Deputy Xiao and Registrar Zhan came to Zhang Zhong because of the 5000 strings of cash.
Zhang Zhong naturally wouldn't say whether he agreed or not. Instead, he asked, "Do you think that the fertile land should be sold?"
The two paused and exchanged glances. Registrar Zhan spoke first, "County Magistrate Zhang, I don't see any fertile land there. It's clearly a wasteland. Leaving it there won't produce any crops. Why not sell it?"
"Who said that it's a wasteland? Just now, those businessmen also admitted that it's a fertile land. They are willing to pay a fine every year according to the amount of crops that can be grown in the field. Registrar Zhan, don't tell me that you can't even differentiate between fertile land and wasteland? "
Zhang Zhong didn't follow Registrar Zhan's words. He rebuked and reprimanded him.
Registrar Zhan didn't expect that those businessmen were willing to pay the money now. He thought that it was like what they had agreed on. In that case, Zhang Zhong could decide by himself. Why did he need to ask the two of them?
County Deputy Xiao was also puzzled. He wanted to guess what Zhang Zhong was thinking, but he couldn't. He could only cough softly and said, "County Magistrate Zhang, since it's like this, then sell it. You can also collect more taxes. When the time comes, you can make up for the money you paid."
When County Deputy Xiao talked about the money, he realized that Zhang Zhong wanted to get back the money. Although the money from selling the land and the fine couldn't be compared to what Zhang Zhong paid, at least they could get back some of it.
At this time, Zhang Zhong said, "Since everyone has agreed, then write a written agreement. When the higher-ups pursue the matter, we can also advance and retreat together. When they find the owner of the field, spend money to buy it and let them do their own thing."
"Lord Zhang is straightforward. We will write it now." Registrar Zhan didn't expect Zhang Zhong to be so straightforward. He even changed the way he addressed him after getting the 5000 strings of cash.
Deputy Xiao didn't have much to say and agreed. The three of them each had a copy of the written documents. When the case was investigated, the three of them had to bear the responsibility together.
After talking about this matter, Registrar Zhan and District Deputy Xiao thought of the land on the other side of the mountain. There was no one there and it belonged to the government. Both of them wanted to buy it first and build a shop as soon as possible. They didn't know what kind of shop to open and would think about it in the future.
They didn't expect Zhang Zhong to bring it up before they could say anything.
"There's one more thing. It's about the mountain. The land on the mountain and at the foot of the mountain is like this. I want to rent out the land on the mountain, for example, to build a pavilion. If people do business in the pavilion, they will have to take some money. What do you think?"
"Good. County Magistrate Zhang is right. There will be more and more people there in the future. Naturally, we will have to rent it. What about the land at the foot of the mountain?" County Magistrate Xiao really admired Zhang Zhong's thinking now. He even thought about this.
Zhang Zhong knew what both of them were thinking. Anyone who knew about that place would try to occupy it. Just now, when he was waiting for the Registrar Zhan and District Deputy Xiao, the nephew of the former Minister of Revenue, Bi Gou, had sent someone over to talk about it.
It was a pity that although the place was good, he couldn't give it to his nephew. Not to mention him, even his own house couldn't occupy it. That was the place where Sun Simiao used to live. There were even going to be tombstones there. How many medical doctors were studying there? How many doctors and apprentices were yearning for it?
His son had said that the place would be very prosperous in the future. There would be countless people coming and going. There was also going to be a Taoist temple there. No one could monopolize this kind of place with humanistic thoughts. It was like a pilgrimage. They could only give up the benefits and return the income to the county.
The only thing they could occupy was the water bubble there. In the future, they could make it into a lake. It was connected to the river not far from there. They could have some ideas on it. As for the mountain, they could give it to the people in the imperial court, including the Emperor.
Zhang Zhong knew what his son meant. He wanted to sell the land to the two of them very cheaply. At that time, the two of them would be unlucky. But it would take a long time. How much money could the two of them have? Losing two or three thousand strings of coins was enough to make them go crazy.
How much money could the businessmen give them? How could they build the place quickly with that little money? It wasn't their own house. They didn't care about thousands of strings of coins at all. Just the title of Zhuangyuan cost them more than a hundred thousand strings of coins. Of course, this was impossible. His son and daughter-in-law were full of such things.
"Lord Zhang, say something." Just as Zhang Zhong was thinking about something, Registrar Zhan couldn't hold it in any longer and approached him to ask.
Zhang Zhong came out of his thoughts and said, "I know what the two of you mean, but that place can't be given to the two of you. He's like this …"
Zhang Zhong said part of what he was thinking about just now. He didn't say the part where he made money.
The two of them broke out in a cold sweat. They didn't expect there to be so many things, but they couldn't figure out why Zhang Zhong didn't take this opportunity to harm the two of them. At that time, no one could save the two of them.
"Sir, what are you …?" Even if Registrar Zhan had always wanted to get rid of Zhang Zhong, he couldn't help but admire Zhang Zhong's magnanimity. He clearly had the opportunity to harm the two of them, but he didn't. Instead, he said it.
Zhang Zhong didn't answer him. Instead, he said, "Here's what I'm thinking. The government office will pay for the construction of shops there. When the time comes, we'll rent them out and rent them again every three years. Whoever pays the highest price will be able to rent it. Whoever has the most ability will be able to rent it.
When the time comes, everyone will do business together. Even if I'm no longer the county magistrate, the new county magistrate won't dare to have any ideas about that place. There's no money in the account now. I can pay for it. When the yamen has the money, they will give it to me. In the future, when they rent it for three years, the minimum price for each shop will be one thousand seven hundred strings of coins.
As for the bigger shops, the price will be higher. If the two of you are willing to rent them, I can rent a few rooms to you first. You don't have to compete with others for this. My family is also planning to build a few. As for the other people in the yamen, as long as they can afford it and don't rent it for others, they can be set aside first.
As for those shops, whoever rents them can run them for three years. During these three years, they can't rent them out. This is to prevent the price from being too high. If the people who come can't afford it, then the place will be wasted. "
Registrar Zhan and Deputy County Magistrate Xiao listened to Zhang Zhong's words. They were speechless for a long time. They really couldn't understand what benefits Zhang Zhong's family would get from doing this. They could even give up such a big benefit. It seemed that everything was for the sake of the people of Huayuan.
This kind of thing was impossible for the two of them. If they didn't take the opportunity to make more money, what was the use of being a good official? Was this the difference between the rich and the poor?
That's right. The Zhang family didn't have to work hard to make money. They opened their own businesses, but they couldn't. They had only made some money in the past few years.
Registrar Zhan was a little shaken. He didn't want to continue to deal with Zhang Zhong. He looked at Deputy County Magistrate Xiao. He was suppressed by Zhang Zhong's magnanimity and his dignity of wholeheartedly serving the people. He felt that Zhang Zhong was a gentleman and he was a villain.
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao was also thinking about it. However, he didn't feel that there was a difference between a gentleman and a villain. He just wanted to live a better life. He wanted to be above others. What he thought was, didn't the current Emperor get the position after the Xuanwu Gate?
Thinking of this, he made a decision. "County Magistrate Zhang, since this is the case, let's write another document."
He wanted Zhang Zhong to take out more money. Anyway, the yamen couldn't have money immediately unless those businessmen were willing to give Zhang Zhong money. Now it seemed that they wouldn't. The Zhang family was rich and had given him ginseng.
Zhang Zhong nodded and said, "Okay, let's write it."
The two of them wrote the document as fast as they could and pressed their own seals on it. Zhang Zhong reached into his pocket to take the seal. When he touched it, his face suddenly changed. There was no seal in his pocket. Where did it go?
"Well, that matter hasn't been settled yet. Let me go back and think about it. That's all for today. When the businessmen buy other people's land, we can do business there."
Zhang Zhong took out his hand from his pocket and said to Registrar Zhan and Deputy County Magistrate Xiao.
Both of them were stunned. Seeing that Zhang Zhong didn't want to say anything else, they could only leave.
"Brother Buyong, are we still going to deal with Zhang Zhong? He helped us today. Otherwise, if we really bought that land, we might even lose our lives. "
Registrar Zhan said to Deputy County Magistrate Xiao after walking out of the door and dozens of steps.
"What? Are you afraid of him? Don't think that I don't know that he didn't say those words for us. He was afraid that we would be delayed for too long. If he really wanted to harm us, he would have to wait for us to fix that place first and for him to bring a lot of people over. When would that happen? He can't wait.
He wants to bribe us and make us listen to him. Both of us are older than him. His family is just a little rich. If he wants us to listen to him, he can dream on. After this year, you will be 30 years old. Are you willing to be his assistant? "
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao obviously thought differently from Registrar Zhan. He was used to being domineering. Even when County Magistrate Wen was here, his words had a certain effect. County Magistrate Wen just wanted to discuss with him.
Registrar Zhan didn't have much of an opinion. When he heard Deputy County Magistrate Xiao's words, he immediately explained.
"No, I don't think so. I just think that it's too difficult to defeat him. Let's give him a boost and let him get promoted. At that time, won't we have the final say in Huayuan County?"
"Dream on. At that time, Huayuan County will be like Sanshui County. The one with the surname Cheng left and the one with the surname Jia came immediately. We can't let him do his job well. Otherwise, we won't have another chance. Let him get promoted? Why don't we get promoted? Even if he gets promoted, he will still have a higher position than us. "
Deputy County Magistrate Xiao said angrily. He was afraid that the people around him wouldn't continue to do things with him.
"My Lord, my two Lords, you are here. Look, what have I brought?" Suddenly, a person ran in front of them. It was Shen Yuan. When he arrived in front of them, he put his hand into his other sleeve.
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