After purchasing the land and using tens of thousands of acres of surrounding government land, totaling about 100,000 acres, Zhou Shaoyu immediately made arrangements to build a garden.
Guo Rong was instructed to oversee the entire process and to find the best craftsmen to design and build it.
It was impossible to build a border market in Xujia Village.
Lizhou has several options. If you don't choose Xujiacun, there is a better border town—Changhe Town.
Changhe Town and Xujia Village are located in towns that resemble two ox horns, one in the south of Lizhou and the other in the north of Lizhou.
Xujia Village originally planned to build a trading market, but they decided against it and instead built a garden.
A garden he would never tell anyone about, a memorial to her.
The market was located in Changhe Town.
However, the government kept this news quiet, and Zhou Shaoyu did not want to pay five times the price to buy Changhe Town.
Guo Rong stepped in and, in the name of Lizhou Prefecture, bought up all the relatively concentrated land outside Xujia Village, except for the government-owned land.
It wasn't a free requisition; in fact, it was bought at five times the market price. It's all in black and white, and no matter the dynasty, no one can say anything against the imperial court.
As for Xujiacun being deceived, it's because they were too greedy!
This plot of land was specially designated by Zhou Shaoyu, and only Xu Li and Zhou Shaoyu knew about it.
That was the 100,000 mu of farmland that expanded outwards from the tombs of Xie Zhaozhao, Xie Anfeng, and Xie Yu in Xu Li's dream.
After Guo Rong bought the land, he followed Zhou Shaoyu's instructions and built high walls around it.
The real high walls are similar to city walls, both tall and thick.
It was only then that the village head of Xujia Village, Master Xu the Second, realized that the important figure who had come in a carriage to buy the land was the prefect! He was the highest-ranking official in Lizhou.
They were overjoyed, thinking that if a trading post were indeed established here, the place would become very prosperous.
Xu Li, a eunuch, is nothing!
When the wall was being built, the village heads of Xujia Village, Wangxiaozhuang Village, and Wangji Village all asked if they could hire workers from their own villages to build the wall, as the wages were estimated to be quite high.
Lord Guo ignored them and directly ordered the governor of Lizhou to mobilize 5,000 soldiers from the army to build a wall.
The villagers, who had lost their land, could only watch helplessly as the soldiers worked.
No one told them what was being built here; they all assumed it was a market town.
"When will you be able to finish building it?" Master Xu asked a junior leader.
"At least six months!" The foreman looked at Master Xu and said kindly, "Why haven't you gone to the city to buy a shop yet?"
Master Xu asked, "This place will be a trading post in the future. We'll build our own shops on our homestead. When the merchants come, they'll need to eat, drink, and use the facilities."
The foreman smiled and said meaningfully, "You'd better go and buy the shop."
Master Xu was terrified by the man's laughter. When he asked again, the man refused to say anything. Master Xu then went to find the village head.
The village head was uneasy and immediately went to inquire.
Someone received an "insider" message that this place was not a market to be built, but a prince's tomb to be constructed here.
Grave! Tomb!
Yes, the people from Jiangsu and Zhejiang who came to buy the land are advisors to the heir apparent of Prince Qi. Prince Qi is probably doomed...
Master Xu and Village Chief Xu were furious. They had sold off the land left by their ancestors, only to have someone build a huge tomb right in front of their house!
Is their village still habitable?
The key point is that this tomb doesn't belong to just anyone; it belongs to royalty, to a prince. They wouldn't dare to cause any trouble.
The whole village panicked and went to ask the people of Wangxiaozhuang. The village head of Wangxiaozhuang was also panicked and hurriedly went to inquire, but the information was ambiguous.
Ask those who surveyed the land and transported bricks and stones, and they said they were just soldiers doing the work and knew nothing.
The foreman said he saw someone go to the city and inquire about shops in the town.
The people of Xujia Village were truly panicked.
They searched everywhere for Xu Li.
Xu Li was not there. The gatekeeper of his courtyard said that the prefect was looking for his two elder brothers and that there was progress.
However, the situation was very bad, and General Xu was furious.
The village head and Master Xu were struck dumb by the news. What the hell was going on? All these bad things had piled up at once.
If Xu Erlei and Xu Sanduo get into trouble, Xu Li will be lucky if he doesn't trample on the people of Xujia Village, let alone help them.
"Second Uncle, what should we do? Should we hurry up and seize the shops, the courtyards, and the land?" The village head was a little dumbfounded.
They lost their land, and now they can't find work. There's a grave in front of their house!
Master Xu quickly gathered the Xu family and told them the news, which immediately caused an uproar.
“My grandfather bought me a few acres of land, and you forced us to sell it, saying that we could make a fortune in the future with the border market. But now you’re building a tomb for me, and you’re making me lose my land!”
"Aren't you guys quite resourceful?"
"I don't care, as long as it's not a border market, give me back my land..."
The village head and Master Xu shouted, "Hurry up and go to the towns outside to grab land! If you're too late, it will all be taken by Wang Xiaozhuang and Wangji!"
Buying land and a yard was something the villagers had never experienced in their lives. They were already timid and fearful, and leaving the village felt like going to their deaths. They cried and wailed.
The village head and Master Xu called on their children and relatives to hurry up and buy land and courtyards. At this time, it was no use talking to anyone, because the land was being bought by the government. It was a voluntary transaction, and no one forced them to sell.
Before Xu Tiezhu's parents died, they left them ten mu of fertile land and ten mu of inferior land. It was agreed that the eldest son would have eight mu, and the other three brothers would each have four mu. However, Xu Tiezhu sold all his brothers and kept twenty mu for himself.
This time, they sold ten acres of top-quality farmland and received 1,600 taels of silver. They were almost ecstatic.
This amount of money is enough for the whole family to live on and eat even if they do nothing for the rest of their lives.
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