Everyone looked at the beggar.
One hundred taels of gleaming gold were first exchanged for nine hundred taels of silver notes, and then another one hundred taels of loose silver were exchanged for what they had on them.
The beggar first bought a decent set of clothes, then went into the bathhouse to soak in the bath and wash away all the filth.
When he came out of the bathhouse, he looked like a completely different person. He then went to a shaving master on the street to shave his beard and tidy up his hair. The beggar then got two bowls of shredded pork noodles and ate them.
After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, they found a decent house in the city and bought it for eighty taels of silver, which was barely enough to live in.
Then he pocketed the silver notes and bought more than ten acres of land, and found a matchmaker to arrange a marriage for him.
Then, the beggar turned around and rented out the land he had bought for four or five hundred taels of silver to more than a dozen tenants.
This beggar wasn't as heartless as Jin Wenhua and his gang. The tenants rented his land without charging him a single penny in rent, and only needed to give him half when the harvest season came.
Don't underestimate this point. The land is permanent. You can plant crops 2-3 times a year and harvest 2-3 times a year. Even if a beggar lies down and does nothing, he won't starve.
With over three hundred taels of silver left in his pocket, enough to marry a young wife and for the couple to do some small business, the beggar's fate was instantly changed by carrying a piece of wood.
Even a beggar doesn't forget his roots. After returning home, he cleaned the shrine in his new house and didn't offer anything else except the memorial tablet of Liu Fu, who had helped him change his fate. Whenever he had free time, he would kowtow a couple of times and light an incense stick.
The crowd that had followed the beggar around all day, who had been skeptical of Liu Fu's claim of establishing trust through the wooden pole during the day, were now filled with regret and wished they had been the ones to move the pole.
"Sigh! I was so close at the time, why didn't I think to go up and try? How could I be so stupid?"
"Compared to the chance to get rich quick, I was stupid. What could I have done by just going up and trying? If I succeeded, I would have a lifetime of wealth and glory. Even if I failed, I would only get a beating. Why didn't I think of that back then?"
"Luckily, there's a 'Standing Firm as a Sign' event in Ximen tomorrow. I must be the first one there!"
The incident involving the beggar today immediately caused a stir within a radius of hundreds of miles.
Before dawn the next day, a long queue had already formed outside the west gate of Yanshan Prefecture, with people scrambling to move the timber.
But this time, the rules have changed.
The wood turned into 120 jin (60 catties), and the reward turned into 300 taels of gold.
This time, the fight was so fierce that it almost resulted in bloodshed. The lucky one got his wish, moved the wood to the earthen platform, and received the 300 taels of gold that would change his life.
On the third day, the wood had grown to 150 jin, and the reward had increased to 500 taels of gold!
The people were in an uproar!
Tens of thousands of people gathered at the foot of the city gate of Yanshan Prefecture. Almost everyone who was able to move around brought their families to the vicinity of the city gate, trying every means to participate in the event.
Can't you lift a 150-pound log?
It's alright. If one person can't manage, ask your family members for help. Anyway, Prince Zhongwu said that no matter what method you use, as long as you carry it to the earthen platform in the end, it will count.
Because there were too many people, Liu Fu had no choice but to issue number plates and then draw lots to select the lucky winners.
And then on the fourth day...
300 catties of wood, 1000 taels of gold!!!
One thousand taels of gold! That's equivalent to a full ten thousand taels of silver!
At the current market price, 35-40 taels of silver can buy one mu of good land, and 10,000 taels of silver is enough to buy several hundred mu of land and become a very wealthy person!
Moreover, the current reward is ten times greater than the 100 taels of gold the beggar received back then!
Just think how well the beggar lived with only 100 taels of gold. If someone were to receive a reward of 1,000 taels of gold, how comfortable would their life be?
But at the same time, tens of thousands of participants also began to have doubts.
A thousand taels of gold! Such a huge reward, will it really be given out?
Liu Fu has released it!
When the lucky winner received the prize money, he loaded the thousand taels of gold onto the cart and pushed it into the money exchange to exchange for silver notes. He was overwhelmed with emotion, bowing repeatedly in the direction of Liu Fu. He was both excited and sobbing uncontrollably.
"mother!"
"Your son is rich now, but he can no longer take care of you, my dear father...!"
Then he burst into tears. While others were laughing hysterically when they received the silver notes, this lucky man cried his heart out...
Life is full of experiences, and sometimes that's not just a saying.
Looking at the frenzied people of Yanshan Prefecture, Liu Fu was filled with mixed emotions.
Soon after, the imperial carriage finally arrived at Yanshan Prefecture. The eight hundred guards and personal soldiers dispatched by Liu Laowu followed the baggage train and paid their respects to the loyal and valiant prince who had already arrived at his fiefdom.
"Your Highness, His Majesty has allowed you to choose the location of your capital and the name of your fiefdom. Where do you intend to place it?"
The speaker was an official from the Ministry of Rites sent by Liu Laowu, accompanied by a senior eunuch from the emperor's side.
When the fiefdom was established and Liu Fu became king, officials from the Ministry of Rites would pay their respects to Liu Fu on behalf of the court, and the chief eunuch would read the imperial edict on behalf of Liu Fu.
"Let's name the country 'Republic of China,' with the people as its foundation."
"As for the capital, it will still be located in Liaodong Royal City. From now on, we can simply drop two characters from Liaodong Royal City and call it Dongcheng. My title will still be King Wu."
Although there is only a one-word difference between being called a king and being called a king, they are very different.
A prince is a nobleman, but a king who holds real power in his fiefdom is equivalent to the ruler of a country, or an emperor, only he doesn't call himself an emperor.
This is somewhat similar to the relationship between the Zhou emperor and the vassal states during the Warring States period. Only the emperor could be called the emperor, but the smaller states under the emperor each managed their own affairs and then went to the capital every year to pay homage to the emperor and pay taxes.
Liu Fu chose Dongcheng as his capital because all the kings and emperors who had ruled Liaodong throughout history had placed their capitals in Dongcheng and built a luxurious palace there.
Since there is already a royal palace in the East City, in order to avoid wasting people's money and resources, you can just move into the East City royal palace directly. A little renovation of the royal palace will not cost much money. However, if you want to rebuild a royal palace, it will be impossible to complete without tens of millions of taels of silver, hundreds of thousands of laborers, and several years or even ten years.
After doing all that, Liu Fu opened the system.
Since the suppression of the rebellion, he has gained more than three million reputation points, and his current total score is already in the hundreds of thousands.
Liu Fu opened the points shop and bought 10 of the historical ministers and generals selection chests, each costing 10,000 points.
It's time to find some wise ministers and capable generals to assist me in governing the vassal state.
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