According to Yu Fuyang's introduction, Mr. Zhao's nickname was Zhao Luo. He was originally one of the largest households in Xuanfeng Township. His ancestors were high-ranking officials. Later, his uncles, uncles, cousins, nephews, etc. were also officials.
It's just that one generation is not as good as the other, and the officialdom is getting smaller and smaller.
This Zhao Luo was very elegant and not good at housekeeping. He named himself Fengling Jushi. He sometimes called himself Fenglingzi and liked others to call him Mr. Fengling. He had studied for several years, but
He had no intention of taking the imperial examination, so after he got the title of scholar, he no longer pursued advancement. He considered himself an outsider, and liked to travel and make friends with some literati from all over the world. These literati took a fancy to Zhao Luo's gambling money, and they had nothing to do with it.
When the autumn wind blows, I will come to him, eat and drink for a while to replenish the oil and water in my stomach, and then take some money from Zhao Luo and drift away.
Due to being taken advantage of all day long and being careless about money, the nearly 100 hectares of good land left to him by his ancestors were gradually lost. Now there are only about 20 hectares left, which is more than 2,000 acres. However, this piece of land covers an area of
No one cares about the dozens of square kilometers of mountain farm, and it is still in his hands.
The land rent in the Ming Dynasty was about 1 shim per acre. Zhao Luo's family had about 2,000 acres of land and could earn more than 2,000 shim a year, which was equivalent to about 1,000 taels of silver. In addition, there were some small industries in the county, so
There is also a small amount of output in Pianhuangshan, which adds up to an income of less than 1,500 taels a year. If Zhao Luo wants to be arty and make friends with strange people, he can only pretend to be fat and make up for the shortfall by constantly selling land.
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A few years ago, Zhao Luo's family had a lot of land. They sold 10 or 20 acres at a time, but it didn't feel like much. When he finally came to his senses, nearly 80% of the 100 hectares of farmland had been sold. If he continued to sell it, he would have to sell it.
He was bankrupt. When an uncle who was an official in other places came back to visit his relatives, he discovered this situation and scolded Zhao Luo, and ordered him not to touch any more of his family property. Zhao Luo was so ashamed that he never dared to go out again.
Instead of attending any literary gatherings, he spent the whole day reading some leisurely books at home. When those "literary friends" from out of town came to visit, Zhao Luo's standards for receiving them were also greatly reduced.
These are the situations of Zhao Luo that Yu Fuyang introduced to Su Hao. After hearing this, Su Hao found it very interesting. Throughout the ages, there has been no shortage of such rich second generations in society. What is rare is that this person has a gentle personality and a naive manner. Although he is rich and powerful,
But he doesn't bully the villagers, and he can be regarded as a rich second generation who is harmless to humans and animals.
Following the location indicated by Yu Fuyang, Su Hao took Chen Guanyu and Ma Yu to find Zhao Luo's home, which was a house not far outside Qujiang Town, Xuanfeng Township. As expected of a century-old family, Zhao Luo
The Luo family's house occupies an area of more than ten acres, and is surrounded by a wall as high as one person. Due to its age, the wall is covered with moss, which makes it look quite ancient. There are trees inside the wall, and you can vaguely see the
The high eaves of the building make people imagine the magnificence of the courtyard.
A group of people came to the main entrance of Zhao's house. Chen Guanyu walked up and explained Su Hao's identity and purpose to the doorman. The doorman was very polite and saluted everyone and asked them to wait for a while, and then ran away.
I went in to report, but didn't even accept the red envelope of a few cents that Chen Guanyu took out.
After a while, with a burst of laughter, the owner of the place, Zhao Luo, appeared with unhurried steps. He was a middle-aged man in his 40s, with a somewhat rich figure, wearing a silk robe, and holding in his hand
He was still holding an unknown folding fan. When he saw Su Hao and others, he bowed his hands and praised:
"Is this my dear Mr. Su from the county government? Zhao has been admiring him for a long time. The day before yesterday, I heard someone said that Mr. Su was surveying wells in the county, and he always hit the mark. If there is divine help, he can save thousands of our people from fire and water. Zhao has been
I wanted to find an opportunity to ask Master Su for advice. Master Su did not give up today and came to the humble house. It really makes the humble house shine."
Seeing that Zhao Luo was so polite, Su Hao quickly returned the favor and said some polite words about how he admired Zhao Luo's elegance. Then he introduced Chen Guanyu and Ma Yu to Zhao Luo. Zhao Luo heard that Ma Yu was
The leading case officer in last year's county examination couldn't help but make a fuss about compliments. This mutual compliment lasted nearly a quarter of an hour.
Finally, under the guidance of Zhao Luo, everyone finally arrived at the Zhao family's living room, where the guests and hosts sat down. The maid had already served refreshments, and Zhao Luo proudly introduced to Su Hao that this tea was a certain famous tea.
This dim sum is a certain famous dim sum, so Su Hao and others naturally flattered Zhao Luo a lot, so there is no need to elaborate.
After the greetings, Zhao Luo got back to the business and asked Su Hao: "I just heard from my disciples that Master Su wanted to use the mountain farm below for his trip. What are the details?"
Su Hao said: "Mr. Fengling, who was born late and is now the master of the county government office, saw that the people in this county were struggling with insufficient firewood and their livelihood was difficult, so he proposed to the county magistrate to open a coal kiln to mine coal in this county to benefit the people. This
A few days ago, I, Daochang Chen and Brother Ma, surveyed some places in Xuanfeng Township and found that there were coal veins in the mountain farm owned by Mr. Fengling. Therefore, I wanted to rent this mountain farm to open a kiln. I wonder if Mr. Fengling would agree?
"
Zhao Luodao: "This mountain farm left by our ancestors has no vegetation. People have always said that there are coal veins underground. A few days ago, a man named Yu led some people and opened a coal kiln in this mountain. I heard that
The profit is not very good. Mr. Su wants to mine coal here, I wonder what the percentage is?"
Su Hao said: "We just came from Yu Dongtou. Wan Sheng already knows something about the coal veins in this mountain farm. Now we just have to see if Mr. Fengling agrees."
Zhao Luo nodded and said: "Since Mr. Su has already taken a fancy to it, it doesn't matter. I wonder where Mr. Su plans to open a kiln."
Su Hao took out the map that he had shown to Yu Fuyang before, spread it out for Zhao Luo to see, and said, "I want to rent Mr. Fengling's mountain farm, what do you think?"
Zhao Luo looked at the lines on the map and couldn't recognize them as contour lines. He thought they were some kind of marks from Su Hao's Feng Shui survey. People who could find coal veins underground at that time were called coal masters.
In the eyes of ordinary people, they have the same nature as Feng Shui masters. They are both 30% technical and 70% mysterious. It is inevitable to draw some marks on the diagram.
Zhao Luo found some directions on the map and determined where the area Su Hao pointed to corresponded to. He couldn't help but frown and said: "The ground that Master Su wants to rent is a bit too big. The radius is about five miles."
.”
Su Hao said: "There are coal veins in these places. I want to build a mining area, which may require dozens of wells to be drilled, so it is better to rent the mountain site in advance."
Zhao Luodao: "It doesn't matter, these mountain fields are deserted anyway. Since Master Su is doing something to benefit the people, Zhao should do his best to help."
Su Hao asked: "How much rent does Mr. Fengling want to rent these mountains?"
Zhao Luo opened his mouth to say something, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back. He turned to the maid who was standing aside and ordered: "Go and invite Mr. Zhu, and tell him that I have something to ask Yu."
he."
The maid left in response. Zhao Luo turned around and said to Su Hao sheepishly: "Master Su, logically speaking, these mountain fields are originally barren mountains. Master Su wants to use them, so just use them. Why bother talking about this yellow and white thing, dirty and dirty?"
Everyone's ears have been opened. Unfortunately, a few days ago, Zhao's uncle went back to his hometown to visit his relatives. He scolded Zhao for not being good at running a household and ruining all the inheritance left by his ancestors. Therefore, he strictly ordered Zhao to be honest in matters related to money.
The steward will take care of it.
The Mr. Zhu whom I asked my servant to hire just now is named Zhu Xi. He is the housekeeper hired by my late father when he was still here. It is better for him to discuss the rent with the master."
"Yeah, that's right." Su Hao replied, "When we start mining here, how can we not pay the owner of the mountain farm? But if the price offered by Butler Zhu is too high, I'm afraid Wan Sheng will have to bear the burden.
It’s amazing.”
"No, no." Zhao Luo said repeatedly, "Mr. Zhu is also an old man who has followed my late father for many years. He is still very fair."
While the two were talking, the maid led a bad old man in. Su Hao and others quickly stood up to greet them, and the bad old man cupped his fists and saluted everyone: "I wish you all good manners."
Everyone bowed to each other, and Zhu Xi found a seat to sit down, and then asked Zhao Luo: "My boss, please call me over. What do you want me to do?"
Zhao Luo told Zhu Xi that Su Hao wanted to rent a mountain farm for coal mining. Zhu Xi asked for Su Hao's map again, looked at it carefully for a long time with his presbyopic eyes, then shook his head and said: "My boss,
This is not appropriate."
"What's wrong?" Zhao Luo asked, somewhat surprised.
Zhu Xidao: "This matter of coal mining is related to the atmosphere of the land. Although the mountain farm left by the old employer is a little deserted, it is the feng shui of our Zhao family. If the Zhao family can be rich and prosperous, the whole country will be prosperous."
We rely on the nourishment of the earth's energy. If coal mining releases the earth's energy, the Zhao family's luck will be damaged."
"Mr. Zhu, it seems you didn't explain this Feng Shui theory like this..." Chen Guanyu looked anxious at the side. As an award-winning Feng Shui master, he could tell that this person named Zhu was talking nonsense.
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Su Hao raised his hand, stopped Chen Guanyu, and turned to Zhu Xi with a smile: "Mr. Zhu, what do you mean, this mountain farm cannot be rented to us?"
Zhu Xi raised his head, looked at Su Hao with turbid eyes, and said slowly: "I just heard from my boss that Mr. Su was ordered by the county magistrate to mine coal to benefit the people. If our Zhao family refuses to rent
The mountain farm may be a little unreasonable."
"So, it can be rented?" Su Hao asked, still smiling.
Zhu Xidao: "The Zhao family has always been a family that values righteousness, so Master Su wants to rent the mountain farm for coal mining. The Zhao family has no reason to refuse. It's just that the loss of the leakage of earth gas needs to be compensated. I wonder if Master Su can
Give some silver to make up for the earth's energy?"