The next day, after breakfast, the villagers began to return to the village.
Li Yun and Shangguan Feiyun went to the brick and tile factory in town and asked them to make bricks and tiles quickly.
"Madam, do you want some bricks and tiles?" The shopkeeper came forward to greet Li Yun enthusiastically when he saw her.
"Yes, I'll buy out your brick factory.
"How much silver do you want, just tell me directly." Li Yun told him the purpose of her visit.
“Buy my brick factory?
I won’t sell it, please leave, ma’am.” When the shopkeeper heard that someone was here to buy his brick and tile factory, he immediately drove them away.
"Don't chase me away first. Let me tell you the conditions first." Li Yun was unmoved and spoke in a gentle voice.
"Then tell me the conditions." The shopkeeper wanted to see what she would say.
"It's like this, I paid money to buy out the brick and tile factory.
You can still work here, I will pay your monthly salary and the cost of materials.
The only condition is that the bricks and tiles be given to the villagers for free." Li Yun stated her conditions.
"Madam, why are you doing this?" the shopkeeper asked in confusion.
According to my wife's conditions, everything else will remain unchanged except this factory.
"It's like this, many villagers' houses were washed away, leaving them homeless and living on the streets.
The imperial court wanted to build houses for the villagers so that they would have a roof over their heads and a place to live.
Therefore, the imperial court allocated money to build houses for the villagers free of charge.
Building a house requires a lot of bricks and tiles. I want to buy a brick and tile factory and give the bricks and tiles produced to the villagers, which will reduce costs.
In fact, I can build a brick factory myself, so that you will have no business at all.
One problem is that it takes some time to build a factory and recruit workers, which wastes time.
"That's why I'm looking for you to buy the brick and tile factory. We have ready-made workers, materials, and tools, which will save us a lot of time. What do you think of this transaction?" Li Yun said.
"Madam, do you mean to buy the brick factory alone, without buying my technical formula or replacing the workers?" the shopkeeper tried to explain.
"Yes, the technology is in your hands, you are still the shopkeeper here, and the workers are still the workers here. Their monthly salary remains unchanged, while the shopkeeper's monthly salary is 100 taels. Do you think this condition is acceptable?" Li Yun said to the shopkeeper.
"Yes. Three hundred taels were used to build the kiln. Madam, please buy it at the original price."
In addition to the tools and materials, let's give you six hundred taels in total!" The shopkeeper calculated and said to Li Yun.
"Okay, add another hundred taels as technical fees." Li Yun was okay with the price.
Although building a brick and tile factory by herself would not require so much money and would save time and effort, she had nothing to say.
"Okay, deal!" said the shopkeeper.
After saying that, he went to find pen, ink, paper and inkstone to write the contract.
Li Yun read the content and found it was the same as what he said, so he signed his name, and the deal was finally completed perfectly.
He left two thousand taels of silver with the shopkeeper to buy raw materials, and gave him a list, asking him to deliver bricks and tiles according to the addresses on the list.
After everything was arranged, he took Shangguan Feiyun away.
Changjiang lived up to expectations and recruited a mayor and constables in the town.
After multiple assessments, a scholar who failed the imperial examination was recruited as the mayor, and five burly men were recruited as constables. Their character was quite satisfactory.
The refugees returned home and handed the document written by Li Yun to their village chiefs.
After reading the contents and seeing the official seal on it, the village chief did not dare to delay and immediately looked for a place to accommodate the villagers.
Soon, food was delivered to the villages, along with bricks and tiles.
Those bricklayers began to recruit villagers with good character in the village to build houses.
Li Yun and Shangguan Feiyun went to the countryside to inspect for two days and saw that the refugees had built houses according to her requirements without any mistakes.
Within these two days, the village chiefs of several villages were dismissed, and the villagers were allowed to elect a respected person to be the village chief.
Leaving a sum of money to the newly appointed mayor, Li Yun and Shangguan Feiyun took Changjiang, Erbao, Sanbao and Xiaohua to the county town to prepare to deal with the county magistrate.
Heshan County is the county seat of Fuyong Town. It is not far from the capital and can be regarded as being at the feet of the emperor.
The economy here is very good, and many wealthy businessmen come here to do business. Being a county magistrate here is a good job and you can make a lot of money.
Yang Qianshan is the county magistrate here. He was the top scholar last year and was sent here to serve as the county magistrate. After working for three years, he can return to Beijing to report on his work.
This lucrative position was obtained by his father, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who used his connections to get it.
Yang Qianshan took up his post happily and was satisfied at first. Many officials in the county government flattered him and gave him a lot of silver.
For their own benefit, those wealthy businessmen established good relations with him and gave him a lot of silver and farmland.
He did make a lot of money, and since his father worked in the Ministry of Justice, no one dared to offend him, so he began to do evil openly.
The good times did not last long. The Jin Dynasty faced a drought, which left many villagers without water to drink and crops without water to irrigate, resulting in a crop yield of less than 20%.
The wealthy merchants were also affected, and the silver they gave was halved.
What is even more unexpected is that after the drought, there was a locust plague.
When locusts invade, the harvest is completely destroyed.
Fortunately, the imperial court had ways to deal with the locust plague, so the people did not suffer such great harm.
He originally thought that after the locust plague, the court would provide disaster relief, the matter would be over, and he would be able to profit from it again.
The wealthy businessman began to give him a lot of silver, gold, silver and jewelry, and he started living a decadent life of money and reveling every night.
The good times did not last long. Another flood hit, causing the villagers' houses to collapse and drowning many chickens, ducks, cows, sheep, and even many villagers.
The imperial court also had countermeasures, asking local officials to find places for the villagers to live.
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