Chapter 544: First Caught a Sheep
If Peng Yuanliang wants to gain advantage from Lord Liu and others, he can't do it without paying any price.
But the bleeding alone is still not enough.
It would be a shame to take advantage of this wealthy man who has plenty of money to do more construction in the northwest. How could we let him get away so easily?
Deputy General Wu smiled grimly and said subtly, "Didn't he follow the example of the Sang family and set up a farm in South City with great fanfare?"
"There's not much in our northwest, except for endless wasteland. Let him work on it. The more land we can reclaim, the better."
Although wasteland has no owner, it must be deeded to the government after it is reclaimed. When the deed is deeded, a farming tax of one or two taels of silver must be paid to the government for each acre of land.
One tael of silver is not a big amount, but what if there are a lot of acres of land to be reclaimed?
Vice Admiral Wu lazily said, "Northwest China's agricultural harvests have been poor, and commercial taxes are also very weak. For a hundred years, this has been a weak point in the court's tax system. But now it's different."
"Now that Peng Yuanliang has been apprehended, why should we worry about the performance report submitted to the court this year looking bad?"
Peng Yuanliang might just want to put on an act, his real intention is not to reclaim the wasteland, and his desire to reclaim the wasteland is not as strong as he appears to be.
That's no big deal, they don't mind giving him a push.
In order to continue to obtain convenience at the border, Peng Yuanliang had to add embellishments to the performance reports of Northwestern officials and pay all kinds of taxes properly.
Otherwise, they may not be willing to continue taking risks.
After hearing this, Lord Liu's eyes flickered. After a moment's silence, he laughed out loud: "This is a proper move."
"It is human nature to not get up early without profit. We should seek profit so that people won't suspect us of any ulterior motives."
Lieutenant General Wu opened a convenient door at the pass, and pocketed the real money given by Peng Yuanliang.
The rest of the people, as officials of the three northwestern cities, only provided some convenience on the route, but the benefits they gained were not that great, so they simply made up for it from other places.
Lord Liu's mind worked quickly, and he immediately said, "There's a lot of wasteland left uncultivated, and it takes a lot of money to reclaim it. Let him first work on cleaning up these wastelands, and then we can collect all the taxes we need, and then we can take over."
The deeds to cultivated land can only be registered through local authorities.
In other words, every time Peng Yuanliang reclaimed an acre of wasteland, he had to register a land deed for that acre at the county government office.
The land deed is made in two copies, one is kept in the files of the government office, and the other is kept by the deed owner.
It is difficult to tamper with the land deeds that Peng Yuanliang keeps himself, but there are no restrictions on the deeds kept in the county government office.
As long as Peng Yuanliang dies, everything he has in his hands will be dealt with cleanly without leaving any trace. Then, what to do with the wasteland he reclaimed will just be a matter of a word from the person who holds the deed, right?
The dead have no right to interfere in the affairs of the living.
Deputy General Wu said with a forced smile, "Why are you saying such harsh words?"
"We're not greedy for the benefits of his arable land. You and I won't use hoes to dig and sow seeds, so it's useless to take anything. But..."
"Mrs. Sang mentioned to me before that if it's prime farmland that's been reclaimed and prepared, and it's ownerless, and the government wants to sell it to someone else, she'd be very interested."
For them, it is just a matter of reselling it without any cost.
First, we caught Peng Yuanliang, the sheep.
After the sheep dies, the government will step in and sell the ownerless land to others.
The price and other things are easy to negotiate. After all, it is for the benefit of the court. As long as Sang Zhixia is willing to bid, no matter how much, it can be sold as long as it is called out.
For Sang Zhixia, it saved her the material and manpower costs of land reclamation and she could just wait for something ready-made. She was very happy about such a good thing.
Why not do something that benefits both parties?
Lord Liu wore a sanctimonious smile, stroked his beard, and said seriously, "Commander Wu is right."
"After all, in this northwest area of ours, apart from the Sang Dong family, who else can take up so many land deeds at once?"
Since this is what Sang Zhixia wants, they have to put in more effort.
You can't wait until Peng Yuanliang dies and then show off the deeds of three to five hundred acres of land, right?
No matter what, the more the better...
Peng Yuanliang held a banquet in the south city and invited three city guards to attend the banquet. The goods transported from outside the pass to the northwest in the wind and snow also passed through the checkpoint smoothly.
Everything went smoothly, which dispelled Peng Yuanliang's caution. So when he heard Lord Liu's proposal of reclaiming wasteland at the banquet, Peng Yuanliang laughed without thinking too much.
"Your Excellency has agriculture at heart, and this is an act of loving the people. I admire you very much, and of course I fully support you."
Sir Liu looked satisfied and asked with a smile, "Then I'd like to ask, how much wasteland does Mr. Peng plan to acquire in North City first? When will he start cultivating it?"
The cost of reclaiming wasteland is a small amount of money for Peng Yuanliang and is not worth thinking about at all.
Peng Yuanliang pondered for a moment and said tentatively, "I'm mainly taking root in the South City. I don't know much about the North City. I'd like to test the waters with 500 acres first. What do you think, sir?"
"Five hundred acres is too little."
Lord Liu sighed, "I already said this was a good thing that would add luster to my report. Why is Mr. Peng so stingy? I'm embarrassed to even mention the 500 acres of land reclamation as part of my report."
Peng Yuanliang said with a smile, "I would like to do more for you, sir, but as far as I know, the Sang Dong family in the north city owns a vast area of land, and their farmland exceeds a thousand acres."
"With such a local tyrant around, how can I, an outsider, treat him with any respect? If I'm too ostentatious, won't I attract too much attention?"
"You mean Sanyou Farm?"
Lord Liu snorted and said lightly, "Sanyou Farm has indeed accounted for the majority of North City's taxes over the years, but a mere woman, with a little money, dares to show off in public. Such a person will not last long. What is there for Boss Peng to worry about?"
Peng Yuanliang's eyes flickered between light and dark.
Lord Liu said casually, "One thousand acres. I will allocate the land for you."
"Just find someone to reclaim the land and make sure it doesn't delay next year's spring plowing. I'll take care of the rest."
Peng Yuanliang had long known that although these people seemed to have some dealings with Sang Zhixia, in fact they were just colluding for interests and there was no friendship between them.
After all, Sang Zhixia is a very arrogant person. He dares to humiliate others in front of many people. I think he is not a good person in private.
With Lord Liu's words, it seems that the North City, which is currently occupied by Sang Zhixia, can be taken over?
Peng Yuanliang nodded decisively and stood up to toast: "Then I'll trouble you to take care of the land reclamation in the North City."
"Once this thousand acres of water test is completed, I will definitely reward you handsomely."
Lord Liu picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp. He said with a deep smile, "Just focus on making good use of the wasteland. I will find a way for you to do the rest."
Peng Yuanliang showed a perfectly balanced look of astonishment, and said in surprise, "I wonder what you are referring to, sir?"
"What else could it be?"
Lord Zhao, who had barely spoken since taking his seat, gave a playful smile and scoffed, "Isn't Mr. Peng curious about the secret of Sanyou Farm's abundant harvest?"
"Things like this are secrets to others, but don't forget who controls North City."
It would be quite difficult for outsiders to cause trouble in Sanyou Farm, otherwise Peng Yuanliang would not have disappeared after the fire. Everyone present knew this.
But Lord Liu is the governor of the North City and has frequent contacts with Sang Zhixia. As long as one is willing, it is not difficult to explore deeper places.
Peng Yuanliang's breathing stagnated slightly after being reminded.
Lord Liu said with a half-smile, "That woman has always been arrogant and has ignored me, relying on the secret she holds. But if this trump card secret is no longer unknown, how can she challenge me?"
As Peng Yuanliang's smile grew, a stern look appeared on Lord Liu's face. He spoke slowly and slowly, "When you have completed my orders, the things you are curious about will be brought to you."
“Until then, there might not be a place like Sanyou Farm in North City.”
A banquet brought an unexpected surprise. Peng Yuanliang was in a good mood and agreed on the spot to reclaim wasteland in South City and West City. The land deeds had not been marked out yet. To show his sincerity, Peng Yuanliang delivered the tax silver for the thousand acres of wasteland to the three government offices the next day.
When the thousand taels of silver were deposited into the account, Lord Liu snorted disdainfully, handed the wax-sealed letter to his confidant, closed his eyes and said, "Go, and be sure to deliver it personally to Mr. Sang."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
