Chapter 47: Land

"Your Highness, Yuan Li has returned to Fanyang."

The next morning, at the gatehouse.

Zhao Xu was feeling troubled about having to accompany Yuan Li in eating, drinking, and making merry again; he felt completely ill at ease.

Liu Fu's words made him feel instantly relieved.

"This Yuan Li, he doesn't even say a word of greeting; he comes when he wants and leaves when he wants. He really treats Yan Commandery as if it were his own Yuan Family's property." Liu Fu was incensed.

The situation in Yan Commandery had originally been looking excellent.

With Yuan Li's arrival, the Zhang Family, who had been keeping their tails tucked, were about to stick them up again.

"When it comes down to it, in the Great Song, one must look at whose fist is bigger. We are currently weak, so naturally, we are looked down upon." Zhao Xu felt that getting angry was meaningless.

Glancing at Liu Fu, he continued, "Do not dwell on this anymore. What the Prince's Mansion must do now is seize the hearts of the people of Yan Commandery. How is the matter of land distribution going?"

"The fields of the Huang and Du families have all been distributed, but there are still many commoners with no land to till. Moreover, the news of Your Highness only collecting low rent has spread to other commanderies, and now many refugees from outside commanderies have come, so there is even less land." Liu Fu was fretting over this matter.

The population of Yan Commandery was small, and it had been difficult to attract some commoners with a good reputation.

If these commoners left because they had no land to till, it would be a great pity.

Zhao Xu paced out of the gatehouse.

What Liu Fu could see, he could naturally see as well.

In his view, the most important thing for a fief was, of course, the population.

Having a population meant having a labor force.

Only with a labor force could one create wealth and provide a steady stream of soldiers for the army.

That was why he had been so impatient to buy the Agency, making himself a slave trader to traffic people from all over the Great Song to Yanzhou.

"This Prince has a method now, but I do not know if it will work." Zhao Xu pondered.

This was a method he had thought of long ago.

It was only because his strength was insufficient that this method could not be implemented.

But now, the time had come.

"The Yan Wang always has the most ideas." Liu Fu chuckled obsequiously.

Every time he felt they were at a dead end, the Yan Wang could always bring him a surprise.

"I just don't know if the Rich Clans will take the bait. Like this, you go and invite all the Rich Clans of Yancheng here first." Zhao Xu instructed.

Liu Fu acknowledged the order and trotted off.

Before long.

The Rich Clans arrived at the Prince's Mansion one after another.

Now, they dared not be negligent toward the Yan Wang's orders; some people's heads were still hanging on the city gate.

"Your Highness, what instructions do you have for us?" Dong Yuan spoke first.

He had come as soon as he received the message, not even telling his son Dong An, clearly competing with his son to show his face before Zhao Xu.

It was not that he was guarding against his son, but rather that the businesses the Yan Wang casually threw their way had made the Dong Family a fortune.

The son was about to surpass the father.

Besides the Dong Family, the Yang Family and the Lv Family had also sent people.

Lv Chang's father was even more spirited than usual.

His son had entered the Prince's Personal Army and even become a Colonel; he had face.

Apart from these slightly larger Rich Clans, there were some smaller ones.

The Liu Family, the Chen Family, and so on—Zhao Xu had remembered them all over these past few days.

What surprised him was that the Zhang Family had not come this time.

There were also a few other Rich Clans close to the Zhang Family who had not come either.

Zhao Xu sneered.

Yuan Li's arrival in Yan Commandery had made some people bold again.

But that was just as well.

Because what he was doing today would have a long-term impact on Yan Commandery.

"Everyone, please sit." Zhao Xu had them sit down.

Sweeping his gaze over them one by one, he said, "Some days ago, because of the Ice Making Technique, this Prince had you establish a merchant firm for you all to operate together and share the profits in the future."

The group nodded, and someone said, "Calculating the time, it should have been selling in Jinling for a while now."

"Someone will return next month, and at that time, the accounts and the Silver will be brought back."

"..."

Thinking about being able to divide the Silver soon,

the Rich Clans were all excited.

Zhao Xu nodded.

Having collected the shares from the Huang and Du families, the Prince's Mansion occupied nearly sixty percent of the current Merchant Association's dividends.

He was the happiest one.

However, today's focus was not on this.

He changed the subject and said, "It is just that you all must understand that the Ice-making Technique is extremely easy to leak. This Prince is worried that once it is leaked, the Merchant Association's profits will become thinner and thinner."

Upon hearing this, the group revealed worried expressions.

Although they had taken oaths, there was no guarantee that others would not seize it by force.

After all, there were many powerful nobles in the south, and many were even more honorable than the Yan Wang.

However, since the Yan Wang had brought this matter up, he must have something to say.

Thus, they waited for the rest of Yan Wang's words.

"Therefore, out of consideration for safeguarding everyone's interests, I have decided to include the Prince's Mansion's Wine in the Merchant Association's sales, providing priority supply."

Zhao Xu's words made the hearts of the Rich Clans accelerate suddenly.

Who doesn't know now that the Prince's Mansion's Fine Wine is a business that makes a steady profit without risk.

And it wouldn't be as troublesome as selling ice, which can only be sold in the summer.

"Your Highness, is... is this true?" A small Rich Clan member was so happy he was about to faint.

Zhao Xu nodded.

But of course, he could not give it away for free, so he said: "However, this requires you to pay a price..."

"Please speak, Your Highness; whatever we can do, we certainly will," a Rich Clan member said.

The abundant profits brought by the Wine were foreseeable; as long as they could obtain a share of the Wine, they were willing to endure it.

"Your land." Zhao Xu no longer concealed his purpose.

Unlike the Huang and Du families, these Rich Clans all supported him.

It was not appropriate to seize their land as he did with the Huang and Du families.

Therefore, he decided to offer a portion of commercial profits.

By doing this, besides controlling more land, he had another goal.

That was to establish an interest group centered around him.

In this way, he would be able to gain more support.

"Land?"

The Rich Clans looked at one another.

They could all feel Yan Wang's obsession with land.

Over these years, they had occupied a vast amount of land among the common people.

Some of the land was even left vacant.

Now that Yan Wang governed Yan Commandery, it would be a simple matter if he wanted this land.

After all, the examples of the Du and Huang families were right before their eyes.

Now, with Yan Wang offering profits in exchange, it seemed there was nothing wrong with it; it was far better than having their past evil deeds investigated and the land seized.

Immediately, a timid Rich Clan member said, "Your Highness, our Chen Family has twenty thousand mu of farmland; we will keep only five hundred mu for our own clansmen to cultivate, and we are willing to hand over the rest."

"Very good. For every mu of land, I will give you six taels of Silver, to be deducted from the profits of the Wine sales," Zhao Xu smiled.

The Chen Family Rich Clan member said with surprise: "Then what percentage of the profit from selling the Wine can our Chen Family share?"

Zhao Xu was no fool.

With the current sales volume of the Prince's Mansion's Fine Wine, a few million taels a year was not a problem, and as its reputation spread far and wide in the future, the income would only increase.

He could not give them too much.

So he decided to take out only a small portion of the Wine sales dividends, allowing these Rich Clans to divide it according to the amount of land they contributed.

Thus he said: "I will only take out twenty percent of the profits, and you will each divide this twenty percent according to the amount of land you hand over."

"Twenty percent..." The Rich Clans whispered to each other.

"It is said that during this period, the Prince's Mansion sold sixty thousand jars of Wine, which amounts to nine hundred thousand taels; after deducting the costs, there must be at least five or six hundred thousand taels. Over a year, there would be three or four million taels of Silver; twenty percent would be five or six hundred thousand taels. If it is more..."

"This Wine brings Silver every year, whereas our land does not necessarily have a good harvest every year."

"We are profiting."

"..."

After discussing for a while, the Rich Clans seemed to have reached a consensus.

They stood up together, "Your Highness, we are willing to hand over the land in exchange for a share."