Chapter 428: Marquis Wuqing Li Gao Seeks an Audience

Zhu Youxiao looked at Huang Zongchang, a smile spreading across his face.

It seemed he hadn't chosen wrong. Putting everything else aside, this hunger-marketing tactic was being played quite well—making everyone wait here until they were anxious and restless before starting. But what kind of results it would ultimately achieve remained to be seen.

Judging from the setup and atmosphere on site, Huang Zongchang was probably about to bleed them dry. This fit perfectly with Zhu Youxiao's hopes and expectations, so he stood off to the side, waiting to watch the show.

"Gentlemen, I am Huang Zongchang. Today I represent the Imperial Household Department in welcoming everyone's arrival." Huang Zongchang smiled and clasped his hands in greeting, his manner extremely courteous.

The people around him all remained silent, waiting for Huang Zongchang to continue.

Huang Zongchang didn't stand on ceremony and spoke directly: "I've invited everyone here today—no need for me to spell out the purpose. Let's not beat around the bush; we'll go straight to the point."

"First, allow me to introduce the plans for the new district. Everyone, look this way." Pointing at one of the buildings on the wooden model, Huang Zongchang said, "This will be a very important place in the future city area, called the Official Residences. As the name suggests, this is where officials will live."

"This is a kindness from His Majesty, a place of residence built for the officials of the capital. As the saying goes, living in the capital is no easy matter—this holds true for many officials as well. His Majesty, in his consideration for everyone, is the reason these Official Residences exist."

"Within the entire district, these Official Residences occupy forty percent of the land—the largest area of any single use—and three hundred residences will be built here for everyone to live in."

Huang Zongchang went on and on introducing the Official Residences, sparing no detail.

The crowd listened with great interest.

In truth, there weren't many people present, and the reason was simple: many officials couldn't come. The houses here weren't for high-ranking officials, and low-ranking officials didn't have the standing to send their family members here either.

Under such circumstances, not many people were interested in these houses. Besides, as could be seen from the model, these were mostly small courtyard-style units, which didn't meet the requirements of these great households.

But they were perfectly suitable for officials to live in.

Many people still doubted whether such a small area could really accommodate that many houses.

In fact, in the Ministry of Works' design, a stacked and combined approach was adopted, which both ensured usable space and guaranteed sufficient floor area while using less land.

With brick, stone, and concrete, this was achievable. Low construction costs and excellent building results—that was the advantage of brick, stone, and concrete.

Zhu Youxiao watched Huang Zongchang, a smile on his face, growing more and more satisfied with him.

Clearly, this was deliberate on Huang Zongchang's part. To put it plainly, he was still whetting the appetites of the people present, keeping them restless and irritated without allowing them to interrupt.

Naturally, the place where officials would live deserved a thorough introduction. Officials held high status—even if these were for minor officials, they were still officials after all.

If you provoked this group, it would be like poking a hornet's nest. Who knew what might happen then? So everyone could only listen obediently.

After talking until his mouth was parched, Huang Zongchang drank a cup of tea, then continued his presentation.

After repeating this several times, Huang Zongchang finally finished, still seeming reluctant to stop.

Throughout the entire presentation, there were countless mentions of "His Majesty is sagacious," countless expressions of gratitude and devotion, countless reddened eyes, and even a few bouts of weeping.

It could be said that Huang Zongchang's presentation was extremely comprehensive, and his flattery was exceptionally well done.

Zhu Youxiao almost laughed watching him—especially seeing the impatient yet helpless looks on those people's faces, how every time the Emperor was mentioned they had to put on a reverent expression. Zhu Youxiao's appreciation for Huang Zongchang grew even more.

This fat man really had some tricks up his sleeve—he was a talent.

"Alright, we've finished discussing the Official Residences." Huang Zongchang's gaze swept over everyone as he said, "The Official Residences will not be sold—they will only be rented to officials. Of course, the price will be extremely low, possibly even free. The specifics will be decided later."

After planting that seed, Huang Zongchang pointed his finger toward the large mansions nearby.

Under everyone's expectant gaze, Huang Zongchang said, "This is the very essence of the entire district, built around the artificial lake of the former Shoushan Academy, comprising fifty mansions in total."

"Of these, thirty are three-courtyard, three-entry residences, and the rest are five-courtyard, five-entry residences. Each mansion has its corresponding garden, rockery, and flowing water—on this point, everyone can rest assured."

"Furthermore, all the buildings will use new-style construction, and the aesthetics will definitely not disappoint. Once the houses are completed, everyone will be able to see the real thing."

"This building beside it is the new district's clubhouse. What is a clubhouse? That's for me to keep as a surprise—once it's built, I'll bring everyone to experience it."

The land had only just been leveled, and Huang Zongchang was already preparing to start selling houses. As for what the houses would actually look like when built—well, that would only be known once they were finished. Who knew now?

But that didn't mean he couldn't spin it. Huang Zongchang talked up this piece of land to the heavens—a hundred years of historical accumulation, the cultural and educational heartland of the Great Ming; since this had previously been an academy, the feng shui was especially good.

In short, it was a load of nonsense—if you didn't buy a house here, you'd be letting down your descendants. And right next door were the Official Residences, where officials lived; buy a house here and you could soak up some official aura.

Watching Huang Zongchang speak with spittle flying everywhere, Zhu Youxiao actually felt a sense of absurdity rise in his heart.

At that moment, Zhu Youxiao had a feeling of being dislocated in time and space, as if his past-life self were buying a house.

It was just like back then—the sales manager spinning a wild tale until Zhu Youxiao was completely dazed.

Zhu Youxiao smiled and shook his head. This feeling wasn't so bad, and it wasn't his money being spent anyway.

After finishing the introduction of the residences, Huang Zongchang moved on to the commercial street.

The commercial street running along the perimeter of the residences—this was definitely a place every merchant had their eye on. The shop fronts here would certainly be worth a fortune.

Zhu Youxiao didn't listen to this part very carefully.

The reason was simple: the prices of these things would definitely be very high. Never mind the rest—just the small courtyards of the Official Residences were worth at least a thousand taels, no question. With this location and this construction, in this position in the capital, there was no problem at all.

Let alone the large mansions beside them—if you couldn't spend tens of thousands of taels on those mansions, don't even think about it. What place was this?

This was the capital. If not completely overflowing with people, it was close enough. In this location, at this position, trying to get such a large mansion was basically impossible.

Even if your family was wealthy and you wanted to buy several houses and combine them into one large mansion, that was also unlikely.

Don't think that just because you have an official in the family, connections, and money, you can afford it. On the ground of the capital, who among those who can afford to live in large mansions doesn't have connections and money?

Toss a stone at random and you might hit a Bureau Director; toss another stone and you might hit a marquis. Did you really think that was a joke?

So the prices of these large mansions would definitely be even higher, and shops went without saying—the prices of shops were beyond imagining. Opening a shop in this location, selling fine stationery, running an upscale restaurant—these were all places that would rake in money.

Most crucially, this was family property—something that could be passed down. You had to understand, in this era there was no such thing as time-limited property rights; once you bought it, it was yours forever. With the deed in hand, it could be passed down generation after generation.

Everyone was rubbing their hands together eagerly.

At this point, Zhu Youxiao didn't watch any further and simply chose to leave.

The lively scene was already there, and there was no need to see the prices that came after—they wouldn't be low, that much was certain.

Leaving the Imperial Household Department, Zhu Youxiao was in excellent spirits because another sum of money had been secured. But he didn't return to the palace; instead, he chose to wander around outside.

He rarely got the chance to leave the palace for a day of fun—how could he possibly go back so early?

By the time Zhu Youxiao returned to the palace, it was already sunset. The news from the Imperial Household Department had also been delivered.

Zhu Youxiao looked at Chen Hong and asked directly, "What's the situation now?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, this is the list just sent over from the Imperial Household Department. In total, two hundred forty-three thousand six hundred eighty-two taels of silver have been subscribed. This is the submitted list." As he spoke, Chen Hong handed the list in his hand to Zhu Youxiao.

Since the subscription ratio was thirty percent, this two hundred forty thousand taels of silver was merely the down payment.

Zhu Youxiao's eyes grew hot at the sight of such a vast sum, but he could not get his hands on it.

This was start-up capital, meant for building the new district. Once the new district was completed, a large sum of money would flow back. Of course, Zhu Youxiao still could not touch that money either — it would have to go toward building the new city.

Only after land prices in the new city were driven up would the profits be enough for Zhu Youxiao to use.

Zhu Youxiao nodded in satisfaction, reached out to set down the report, and said, "Tell Huang Zongchang to keep up the good work."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Chen Hong hurriedly replied, "This servant will deliver the decree as soon as he returns."

Just at that moment, Wei Chao walked in from outside.

He came before Zhu Youxiao, bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, Marquis Wuding Li Gao requests an audience."

Hearing this, Zhu Youxiao was taken aback, and thoughts began to stir in his mind.

Marquis Wuding Li Gao was the son of the former Marquis Wuding Li Wei, and a cousin of the Wanli Emperor.

By now, Li Gao was no longer young. But as the bloodline grew more distant, his standing had sunk lower and lower, until at this point Marquis Wuding Li Gao had nearly faded into obscurity among the noble houses.

This time, however, his family stood out because of their garden west of the city. That garden, known as the finest in the capital — Qinghua Garden — belonged to Li Gao's family. It could be said to be extremely famous.

The new city the Emperor had marked out this time was essentially located right in that area. Extending just slightly further south, it would already encroach upon their family's garden.

These days, Shuntian Prefecture had been frantically investigating who had encroached upon court lands, and checking those who held land without deeds.

Whether temples, nobles and imperial relatives, or ordinary officials — all were being registered and catalogued. Clearly, this was settling accounts after the autumn harvest.

Under such circumstances, some people's hearts began to grow uneasy.

One wondered whether Marquis Wuding Li Gao was entering the palace now because his heart was flustered, or because he had come to lodge a complaint.