Under the arrangement of several old men, the Lu family began to prepare lunch. In fact, when they arrived here, the Lu family had not much food left, but it was enough for the time being. The Luzhou Prefecture City was right next to them, so they were not afraid of running out of food and going hungry.
After lunch, Situ Hao brought several officials to the Lu family.
Lu Zifeng walked forward and said.
"The prince is here, please take a seat."
Situ Hao had gotten used to the Lu family because of his time with them, so he didn't hesitate and put his arm around Lu Zifeng's shoulders.
"Brother Feng, I've made all the arrangements. There's a town twenty miles from our Luzhou city called Qinghe Town. Below Qinghe Town is a village. It's very small, with only a dozen or so households. They're all people who fled here a few years ago. I'll take you there to have a look. If it's suitable, we can settle down there."
Lu Zifeng didn't say anything, but looked at the old men to see what they meant.
Lu Lanchen and several brothers looked at each other and nodded in agreement.
"Excuse me, Prince. Let's go over and take a look!"
In fact, the place Situ Hao was talking about was Nan Qingyun’s own farm. There were about 500 acres of land there, which belonged to Nan Qingyun’s farm, and the residents in the farm were all tenants of Nan Qingyun’s family.
Now that his nephew had been saved and escorted here by the Lu family, Nan Qingyun felt that placing them here would show the Nan family's sincerity.
Situ Hao naturally had no objection to his uncle's arrangement. His uncle did this to repay a favor on his behalf, and he just wanted to accept the favor.
Afterwards, Lu Zifeng accompanied several old men, Situ Hao and several officials to Qinghe Town.
Situ Hao arranged several carriages to take everyone towards Qinghe Town.
Qinghe Town is located in the southwest of Luzhou City, adjacent to Qinglong Mountain to the west. It is also an important transportation route between the north and the south. The reason why Qinghe Town is called Qinghe Town is that there is a small river flowing down from Qinglong Mountain, named Qinghe. Qinghe turns a corner in Qinghe Town and merges into Mingjiang River.
The carriage arrived at Qinghe Town in half an hour. After passing Qinghe Town, we drove west for another quarter of an hour and arrived at Kaoshan Village. The village was named after its proximity to Qinglong Mountain.
After entering the village, there were several villagers sitting under a three-meter-tall locust tree at the entrance. When they saw several carriages coming, they hurriedly got up and walked over.
Situ Hao and Lu Zifeng both came on horseback, and the rest of the people came in carriages. When they arrived under the big locust tree, Situ Hao got off his horse and stood aside without saying a word. Instead, one of the officials came out and spoke.
"Are you villagers from this village?"
One of the middle-aged men in his forties came out and said.
"Indeed, I am the head of this manor. I wonder what may be the matter with you, sir?"
The official glanced at Situ Hao, and when he saw Situ Hao nod, he spoke.
"Everyone in your village should hurry home and make arrangements. Everyone should move to the village east of the city before noon tomorrow. This is arranged by the master himself."
The middle-aged man was stunned when he heard this, looked at the official and hesitated.
"Sir, this is embarrassing for me. I haven't seen anyone from our main family come here. I'm afraid..."
The official didn't know what the middle-aged man hadn't said yet, but he didn't care. He thought that this was the servant of the prefect's family, so he naturally wouldn't listen to him. He took out a letter from his sleeve pocket and handed it to him.
"Take a look at this. Your master gave it to you."
After the middle-aged man took the letter and read it, he looked at the official and Situ Hao beside him in surprise, then knelt down and said to Situ Hao.
"Greetings, young master. I will make arrangements right away. We will all be at the farm east of the city before noon tomorrow."
Situ Hao nodded with satisfaction. He admired this village head. At least he knew not to reveal his identity.
"Well, go ahead, let's take a walk around here first."
After waiting for the middle-aged man to leave with his men, Situ Hao looked at Lu Zifeng.
"Brother Feng, how about this? We have 500 acres of farmland and more than a dozen houses of various sizes. It's just that there aren't enough houses. I guess some of them still need to build houses!"
Before Lu Zifeng could say anything, Lu Lanchen stepped forward to thank Situ Hao.
"Thank you, Prince. This is very good. It gives my Lu family a place to live. I am very grateful. I wonder how much this land is per acre? We can discuss dividing it after we return."
Situ Hao had no intention of asking for money. After all, the Lu family saved him, and as the prince of King Jing, his worth must be high. Such a small piece of land was not worth much, so he gave it to the Lu family. Just when he was about to refuse, he saw Lu Zifeng shaking his head.
He then pulled Lu Zifeng aside.
"Brother Feng, what's wrong? I can still afford to give you this little bit of land."
"Your Excellency, you are too kind. No reward without merit. Besides, since we saved your life, you have already repaid us by placing us here. Forget about giving us the land. Your Excellency, you should know that if you give it to us, it will be difficult for us to do business in the future. Fortunately, they all have some money now, and they can buy according to their own family resources. This way, there will be no disputes caused by uneven distribution."
"If you have more money, buy more. If you have less, buy less!"
When Situ Hao heard Lu Zifeng say this, he nodded.
"Okay, I'll do as you say. The price of farmland in Jiangnan is twelve taels of silver per mu. My uncle's farm is all top-quality land, so I won't ask for more. How about ten taels of silver per mu?"
Lu Zifeng nodded after hearing this, "Thank you, Prince and Lord Nan."
Finally, it was decided to pay ten taels of silver per mu of land. Lu Lanchen and the other old men were very happy. Although they had just arrived in Luzhou Prefecture in Jiangnan, they had already inquired and found out that the land here was priced at twelve taels of silver per mu. The ten taels of silver per mu that Situ Hao mentioned was very cheap.
A quarter of an hour later, the county magistrate and the chief clerk of Qinghe Town arrived with the yamen runners. It turned out that Situ Hao's men had called the county magistrate and the chief clerk. Because Qinghe Town was a big town and was located on the main road between the north and the south, all the official positions including the county magistrate were set up here.
After measuring the land and obtaining specific data, Lu Zifeng and others went back and prepared to move to Lujia Village at noon tomorrow.
Yes, it was Lujia Village. At Lu Zifeng’s request, the county magistrate changed the name of Kaoshan Village to Lujia Village for the sake of Situ Hao, the prince.
An hour later, they returned to the outskirts of Luzhou Prefecture. Lu Lanchen informed the Lu family that they were going to settle in Lujia Village.
The Lu family was extremely happy. After three months, they finally had their own home.
Early the next morning, the Lu family began to pack up. After dinner, they drove mule carts or pushed carts to Lujia Village west of Qinghe Town.
It took more than an hour for everyone to arrive at the new Lujia Village. At this time, all the people from the previous village had left Lujia Village.
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