Chapter 2539 Passing by
Manbao's fiefdom is a bit poor.
The ancient city of Liyang in the pre-Qin period had long since become a ruin. There were two large villages nearby, both of which were Zhou Man's fiefs. There were also two more large villages further down, almost near Wannian County.
Why did the magistrate of Liyang County specifically allocate this area to Zhou Man?
It was because the magistrate of the neighboring Wannian County had always coveted this piece of land. He felt that instead of letting the magistrate of Wannian County snatch it away, it would be better to give it to Zhou Man as a fiefdom.
Another reason is because of this ancient city.
He always felt it was a pity that the ancient city of Liyang was abandoned, but his ability was really limited and he couldn't revitalize it, so he might as well give it to Zhou Man. This was her fiefdom. It would be great if she could rebuild the ancient city, but if she couldn't, she would just maintain the status quo.
They first passed by a village, which was a little far from the roadside, but now the fields were covered with low wheat seedlings and weeds, so they could see the houses in the distance at a glance.
Manbao said, "That is my fiefdom, and all this land is the land under my fiefdom."
Mingda glanced over and nodded, saying, "It looks very flat. I wonder how much of the permanent farmland is occupied."
Permanent farmland does not need to pay rent or taxes to the state, so this part does not need to be paid to the feudal lord.
The income from the fiefdom is the rent and taxes that should be paid to the country, as well as the commercial taxes of merchants in the fiefdom. However, there are no merchants in Zhou Man’s fiefdom now, only farmers.
Further ahead is the ancient city of Liyang. It is not very big and has many broken walls and collapsed houses. However, there is a large market further inside the ancient city. This is because nearby villages trade here, and over time it has become a fixed large market.
It is not yet the busy spring season, and it is also the market season, so there are many villagers trading goods here.
Of course, this is mostly what Zhou Man and Bai Shan and Bai Erlang, who often visit the Dali Village market, think. As for the two princesses and Wei Yu, who have lived in the capital since childhood and just passed through Yongzhou, this market is too shabby.
There were stalls on both sides of the dirt road, with wooden boards or linen covering the ground. Most of them sold vegetables, baskets, linen, chickens, ducks, fish eggs and other things.
You can see everything and the stalls at a glance.
It was the first time for Mingda and Changyu to see such a market, and they stared with their eyes wide open while riding on their horses.
The villagers who were sitting cross-legged on the ground or on the grass also widened their eyes when they saw these people riding on tall horses.
As soon as they reacted, they immediately rolled up the things on the stalls and moved back. Some of them even knelt on the ground, lowered their heads and didn't look at them.
Manbao, who wanted to ride his horse straight over, saw this and jumped off his horse. He smiled at them and said, "We are just passing by. You can do what you need to do."
Seeing that they were not being driven away, the peasants grew bolder. This was a courageous era. Although the people were in awe of the powerful and wealthy, they were not completely afraid. So everyone got up from the ground, some sat down, and others shouted, "Where are you going, my dear husband and wife?"
Bai Shan also dismounted and said, "Let's go to the capital."
They were stunned and said quickly, "Oh, you've taken the wrong road. This is not the official road. If you want to take the official road, you have to go back and then there is a road to the south."
Bai Shan smiled and said, "We know. We came here on purpose."
He pointed at Zhou Man and said, "This is the Lord of Liyang Township."
The villagers were stunned again. They knew that they were now the fief of the Lord of Liyang Township.
People in the distance also looked up at the same time. To be honest, they had only seen the second niece and brothers of the Liyang Township Lord, but had never seen the Liyang Township Lord.
The villagers came over to pay their respects.
Manbao asked them to stand up and introduced the two princesses to them. Then he looked at Mingda and Changyu and asked, "Are you in a hurry to go back?"
The two of them shook their heads and looked at the market with some curiosity.
To be honest, this was the first time they had seen such a small market.
Manbao slowly strolled around the market and talked to a few older vendors. She squatted next to one of them, and the old man immediately gave up his stool to Zhou Man, who then gave it to Mingda.
She squatted down and saw that he was selling eggs, so she asked curiously, "These eggs are a little small. Are they laid by the hens in their first year?"
The old man didn't expect Zhou Man to know this, and nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, the chickens I raised in the autumn of the year before last, laid eggs for the first time at the beginning of this year."
Manbao took a look and thought it was fairly even, so he asked, "How do you sell it?"
The old man was a little uneasy, but he answered honestly, "Three cents for two."
"How much is a normal-sized egg?"
"Two cents each."
Manbao nodded with satisfaction. The price was not very low, which meant that the goods in this market still had a market. It was just that they were a little worse than those in Yongzhou and the capital.
"How long does it take to get to Liyang County from here? I heard eggs in Yongzhou are selling for three cents each."
"Who says it's not? But it takes about three hours to walk from here to Yongzhou, and it takes a whole day to go there and back. If we spend the night in the city, even if we bring dry food, it will be a waste."
Manbao then remembered, yes, it would take them about an hour to ride in a car or on horseback, so wouldn’t it take them about three hours to walk?
Manbao calculated the time, turned around and said to Mingda, "Mingda, it's settled. Build a road from your imperial estate directly to the new city. Everyone can use this shortcut."
Mingda had no objection, but she knew nothing about road construction and asked, "Do we need to hire someone to do it?"
Man Bao was familiar with the situation and said, "I can offer labor service within my fiefdom and some money to cover one-third of the journey. I will then negotiate with the Liyang County Magistrate to have the county government cover one-third, and you will cover the remaining one-third."
She smiled slightly and said, "The road through Huangzhuang will take up your land, but you'll also gain a lot. The new road directly leads to the shops on that street in the new city, which is equivalent to directly cutting off the flow of people from Liyang and Wannian County to Yongzhou."
Bai Shan interjected, "Wannian County and Chang'an County have always been overcrowded, and housing is extremely scarce in both counties. If a road were built here, the distance from Yongzhou New City to the capital would be reduced by more than two-thirds. I see there are no city walls built in the new city, so the princess could choose some wild land to build some houses. They can be smaller, but the environment should be quiet. Once the road is repaired, you can rent them to many students coming to the capital to study."
Wei Yu was a little curious, "Isn't there enough housing in the capital?"
Bai Shan nodded.
"But I see you bought a house easily in Evergreen Lane, and there are often people renting there."
Bai Shan smiled and said, "Houses in the capital are hard to come by. Although Changqing Lane is on the edge of the inner city, the money you spend on one house there can buy more than ten houses of the same size in other counties."
See you tomorrow
(End of this chapter)
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