Tianliangyuan

Chapter 322: Disdainful

Who would have thought that Xu Zhaozhao would actually be involved in infrastructure construction in ancient times?

Xu Zhaozhao certainly wouldn't actually keep all these businesses in her own hands.

She's not stupid. If she really kept all those shops and houses in her hands, not only would she be tying up a lot of money, but she would also easily attract attention and be suspected of having ulterior motives.

It would be better to just sell them directly to consumers.

In this way, Lantian County would prosper, and he could also make a fortune.

Let's not even talk about this land; it wasn't worth much to begin with.

The cost of building the house was actually not much.

For example, if an ordinary family were to build a simple brick house with three main rooms and two side rooms on the east and west sides, it might cost around twenty strings of cash. But if Xu Zhaozhao were to build a large number of houses, the average cost of the same house would only be around twelve strings of cash.

But can you imagine how much money Xu Zhaozhao could sell a house like this for?

One hundred strings of cash!

This is outrageously profitable!

Why does Xu Zhaozhao dare to sell at such a high price?

Because for those who buy shops here, they will eventually buy a house here as well; it's just a matter of how big the house is.

Moreover, anyone who has the means to buy a shop here knows that a house here might not be available for even 100 strings of cash in two years.

Xu Zhaozhao was certainly not foolish enough to build and sell houses here without any preparation.

Nobody's money grows on trees, so why should we give it to you?

Xu Zhaozhao privately asked Fu Pei, Wang Changgeng and others to help her find several scholars with good reputations. She intended to build another academy near Yunqi that was even more famous than the county school.

Relying solely on trade routes won't lead to success in the short term.

However, with the support of an academy, this place will soon become a bustling town.

With the influx of scholars, students, and their families, everything falls into place naturally.

In essence, this is simply an attempt to capitalize on the demographic dividend.

The academy is actually more than halfway built, and in another month, it will be basically completed.

This has been under construction since last year.

At the time, many people didn't know what was being built and just thought it was a villa of Yunqi Mountain Villa.

Fu Pei's teacher was invited over by Xu Zhaozhao.

Although he was called a teacher, Fu Pei had only visited him for advice when he was preparing for the exam in Beijing, and they did indeed have a teacher-student relationship.

In this way, with the title of the top scholar, the academy had already made a name for itself even before it officially began enrolling students.

The merchants who had paid for their shops in advance were overjoyed.

Some people have even started planning to start a bookstore business.

Besides academies, other disciplines that could quickly attract people in ancient times included Buddhism and Taoism.

Xu Zhaozhao did not believe in Buddhism, but because of her arrival, she found it difficult to explain this phenomenon. Therefore, she maintained that she did not believe in Buddhism, but she would not maliciously tarnish the reputation of these beliefs.

However, there is one prerequisite.

She wants orthodox Buddhism, Taoism, and even other legal doctrines, but absolutely not those who deceive the world, use the guise of saving all sentient beings to amass wealth like scoundrels.

Xu Zhaozhao wasn't very familiar with any of these things, so it was Wang Ruolan and her aunt Li Qingmei who helped her make the connections.

In fact, none of these are difficult for Xu Zhaozhao.

Because all the other party needs to do is designate a piece of land, and then they can build temples and Taoist monasteries themselves, without having to spend Xu Zhaozhao's money.

Xu Zhaozhao also understood that with the support of these two places, Lantian County would soon become lively.

These are not enough.

Xu Zhaozhao also made sure the place was lush and green, and arranged for all the flowers that could bloom in the north to be planted there.

These days, ordinary people have no concept of traveling, but for some scholars and celebrities, traveling for study is a perfectly normal thing.

Famous mountains and great rivers are the best places for students to go.

Although Lantian County has no famous historical sites, it has Taoist temples and Buddhist halls. Now it also has beautiful scenery and academies. I believe that in a few years, it will attract students from all over the country to come and visit.

There's no need to rush.

Xu Zhaozhao has plenty of time; after all, she is still young.

Moreover, doing things too quickly or too effectively can actually cause unnecessary trouble.

Therefore, she deliberately slowed down Yan Shu's progress in the subsequent process, and for now, she only needed to recruit a large number of laborers to build houses.

There are buildings here, and I've heard that Princess Leyang and the Qu family own properties here. Which of those merchants is a fool?

Everyone acted immediately upon hearing the news.

When people come, business opportunities naturally follow.

You can't earn all the money yourself.

Therefore, Xu Zhaozhao still had to give up some of her benefits.

One of the better-located and more proper residences was located at the end of the street; that was the official residence that Xu Zhaozhao provided to the Lantian County government.

Without an imperial decree, the county government could not move here. However, the county government needed to arrange for some clerks or city officials to come here. Therefore, this place became the official residence of Lantian County. The county government could have a place to work without having to pay any money. Fang Youwei had no reason to refuse.

In addition, Xu Zhaozhao also gave the Xie clan and the Xu clan a shop each, allowing them to decide whether to rent it out or run it themselves for a living.

The large clan doesn't care about this little bit of property, but you can't refuse to give it to them.

Otherwise, it would make you seem immature.

Princess Leyang did not take the shops and residences for nothing; she bought them all with her own money.

The Qu family didn't intend to take it for free. Although Xu Zhaozhao's original intention was to give it away for free, Qu Shiji, being a cunning old fox, knew that the more something was given away for free, the greater the price would be. So he simply ordered someone to deliver the money to Yan Shu.

Xu Zhaozhao was quite happy.

She never intended to give the property away to the Qu family for free; it was only because they were sensible that they did so. Otherwise, she would have had to find another way to earn the money back.

Liu Qi received a shop as a gift from Xu Zhaozhao, but it was publicly stated that Liu Qi's wife had purchased it with her own money.

Once you've completed the formalities at the government office, who cares whether you got it for free or not?

Moreover, it's just a shop, which is really insignificant to some officials.

But for Liu Qi, this was a valuable asset.

Looking at the property deed, Liu Qi felt somewhat depressed.

Previously, the county magistrate of Anle said she would give him a big gift to express her gratitude. Could it be just a shop like this?

Liu Qi was not a greedy person, but he really couldn't muster any interest in this shop.

What he wanted was never these material possessions.

He also had lofty ambitions, but unfortunately, his family was poor.

Liu Qi's frustration didn't last long.

"Sir, the officials from the Ministry of Personnel have arrived."