Chapter 363: Opening the Mansion

(PS: Although you should be used to it, I still can't help but want to say: from the first chapter to now, there is no chapter in this book written to pad the word count; any plot segment must have its use.)

The motorcade arrived in Xingcheng after 6 PM.

Lan Changqun specially arranged a banquet for Li Fei.

When he was in Datong Prefecture, Li Fei refused the banquet arranged by Bian Jingru for him, but now he accepted Lan Changqun's invitation.

Because Li Lei would be deeply involved in Xingcheng from now on, and this would also be the place where Li Fei opened his mansion.

The banquet was naturally enjoyable for both host and guest; the crowd of officials in Xingcheng didn't dare to pour too much wine for Li Fei, but they let Li Lei drink quite a bit.

Late at night, Li Lei, Li Fei, and Li Tianyu returned home by car, while Lu Wenxing and the others stayed at the government's guesthouse.

As the Inspectorate Chief, Li Lei could actually live in a better house allocated by the government.

But Zhang Yuqing had lived here for a long time and had formed friendships with the neighbors, so she was reluctant to move, and the two still lived in the old place.

Returning home, Zhang Yuqing had already prepared hot water and hot tea for sobering up for the three of them.

She hadn't seen Li Fei and Li Tianyu for a long time, and her eyes turned red immediately after seeing them.

After some pleasantries, Li Fei suddenly said:

"Uncle Li, Aunt Zhang, I intend to build a Hou Fu in Xingcheng from now on. I want to let you move into the Hou Fu to live after it's built. Because I certainly won't be able to stay in Xingcheng for a long time, and the Hou Fu cannot be without a master; if you move in, you can also look after this Hou Fu for me."

Li Lei naturally had no opinion on this; he knew that a Hou Fu was not just a residence, but represented many things, representing the biggest foundation of Li Fei, this Marquis of Jing'an!

He turned to look at Zhang Yuqing.

Zhang Yuqing revealed a smile upon hearing this and said without hesitation:

"No problem, it just so happens I haven't lived in a big house yet."

After speaking, she turned to look at Li Lei, and the couple smiled at each other.

Li Fei was also very happy to see this.

The family chatted until very late before going to sleep.

Early the next morning, Li Fei took Li Lei's car to the Government Building.

General Lan Changqun personally greeted them outside the building, and Lu Wenxing and the others had also arrived early, standing on the side waiting.

Then Li Fei took Lu Wenxing and walked into a guest room with Lan Changqun and Li Lei.

Several people were going to discuss the matter of Li Fei building a Hou Fu in Xingcheng together.

"The Central Cabinet has already issued the funds for the Marquis of Jing'an to build the Hou Fu, totaling one million."

Lan Changqun said to Li Fei.

One million, if it were in Lanling City, would be hard to buy a decent mansion in a good location.

But in a small place like Xingcheng, one million was enough for Li Fei to build a super luxurious mansion!

After all, the average salary in Xingcheng was less than 50 yuan.

"Regarding the construction plan for the Hou Fu, we have already prepared several for you."

Lan Changqun took out a proposal prepared in advance and handed it to Li Fei:

"The first plan is to build a new mansion, and there are three places available for choice. The second plan is to buy a mansion that has already been built; we have found five suitable sellers for you, and the mansions in their hands are all very good, and they are also willing to sell to you. After you buy it, you can renovate and expand it."

Li Fei understood immediately after listening.

Buying a mansion that had already been built was certainly the most cost-effective, because no seller would dare to sell Li Fei at a high price, and even to curry favor with him, this Marquis of Jing'an, the price given would inevitably be very favorable.

Sure enough, he glanced at the proposal in his hand; the prices given by the five sellers Lan Changqun mentioned were almost equal to giving it away for free!

"Let's build a new one; I don't like using other people's things."

Li Fei said indifferently.

"Good, it shall be done according to your wishes."

Lan Changqun's expression remained unchanged.

Li Fei chose a location closest to the current family courtyard of the Inspectorate from the three locations.

Although Zhang Yuqing didn't say it, he quickly thought that she certainly wouldn't be willing to leave the place where she was currently living.

After choosing the location for building the mansion, Li Fei stopped caring about details like the scale of the mansion, the specific construction style, materials used, etc., preparing to hand it over to others to handle.

Next, what he wanted to talk about with Lan Changqun was 'taxation'.

The Emperor divided Xingcheng to Li Fei as a fief, so Li Fei had the power to collect taxes from Xingcheng.

This part of the tax could be a newly added tax, or a portion could be extracted from the annual tax revenue of the Xingcheng government and handed over to the Marquis of Jing'an Mansion.

Li Fei didn't choose to add a new tax; although he could have more income that way, he didn't want to increase the burden on the commoners of Xingcheng.

So he finally chose to extract one-tenth of the annual tax revenue of the Xingcheng government as the income of the Hou Fu.

"The Marquis is truly considerate of the common people."

Lan Changqun patted a horse's butt (flattered).

Finally, everyone had to talk about the private soldiers of the Hou Fu.

These people had to be supported by Li Fei himself, and weapons and equipment could be bought from the imperial court, but Li Fei also had to spend his own money.

"How many private soldiers does the Marquis intend to have? I will make a registration here so I can report it to the Central."

Lan Changqun asked.

"Five hundred."

Li Fei said indifferently.

Five hundred private soldiers was the upper limit for a Marquis.

"Regarding the source of soldiers, does the Marquis intend to recruit them yourself, or?"

"For the source of soldiers, the Inspectorate can solve a part."

Li Lei, who had been sitting on the side without speaking, spoke up:

"The Inspectorate will have a portion of inspectors submitting resignation reports."

Having private soldiers also required training; where could people recruited from outside compare to the elite inspectors trained by Li Lei with a large amount of ammunition and actual combat training?

Li Lei was equivalent to using the imperial court's resources to train private soldiers for Li Fei.

However, this kind of operation was actually very common in the Great Lan Dynasty; as long as one had this means and connections, one could do it.

Lan Changqun nodded, not saying anything.

Actually, Li Lei's operation shouldn't have been brought to the table, but the fact that the other party said it directly in front of him made it seem open and honest.

This was giving him, the General, a heads-up in advance.

And Lan Changqun didn't dare, nor would he raise any objections.

Afterward, several people talked about some details, and then ended this conversation.

Next, Li Lei went to handle official business, and Li Fei let the documents arranged by the Supervisory Cabinet for him, Liang Chen and the other six, go to connect with the relevant matters of the Hou Fu construction, while he himself left the Government Building with Lu Wenxing.

Qingyuan City Management Company Headquarters.

The company headquarters building was ten stories high and was the tallest building in the entire Xingcheng!

This building had now become a symbol in the hearts of many Xingcheng commoners and was a place that many people yearned for.

On the tenth floor, the highest floor, a meeting was being held.

Those present included the General Manager of the Qingyuan City Management Company, Liu Saner, and more than a dozen high-level members.

The topic of today's meeting was—handling the company's violating personnel.

The framework of the Qingyuan City Management Company was built on the 'tiger body' of the already collapsed Hudao Gang.

Back then, more than half of the remaining personnel of the Hudao Gang were killed by Li Fei!

Only the remaining part who weren't so heinous and didn't deserve to die were able to join the company.

Under such deterrence, everyone could execute the rules formulated by Li Fei 100% at the beginning:

Be a good city manager, no cheating in casinos, no lending, no selling opium...

But after a long time, especially since the Green-Faced Ghost King hadn't appeared for a long time, some people returned to their old ways.

After all, a portion of the company's personnel were once people from the Hudao Gang and weren't law-abiding good people to begin with.

Liu Saner, as the agent left in Xingcheng by the Green-Faced Ghost King, had always been trying hard to maintain the rules left by the Ghost King, seriously handling all violating personnel.

But after all, he was once just a boxing agent who could barely afford to eat.

In terms of talent, Liu Saner wasn't very capable.

He could sit firmly in the position of General Manager of the Qingyuan City Management Company, relying only on the remaining prestige left by the Green-Faced Ghost King.

But as an ordinary person who didn't know martial arts or sorcery, and whose ability and talent weren't particularly outstanding, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Liu Saner to suppress the Qingyuan City Management Company, which was becoming the leader of the Xingcheng martial arts world.

In recent months, he had become increasingly powerless, and the number of violating personnel within the company had become more and more, even including some high-level members.

So taking advantage of Li Fei's return to Xingcheng, Liu Saner seized the opportunity to hold an internal cleanup meeting.

Although he didn't know that Li Fei was the Green-Faced Ghost King, judging from this series of recent events, Li Fei was clearly on the side of the Green-Faced Ghost King.

That was enough!

"In recent months, there have been many serious violations within the company; I even found that some people are secretly selling opium!"

Liu Saner said sternly while sitting in the main seat.

He swept his gaze over everyone present, and then distributed a pile of documents prepared in advance on the table:

"This records in detail the list of all violating personnel and specific matters over the past few months; everyone, take a look first."

More than a dozen high-level members looked down at the documents in their hands, and the expressions of many people changed.

"Liu Saner!"

A man in his forties with a majestic aura suddenly looked up, picked up the document in his hand, and called him by his name:

"What do you mean by this?"

A powerful aura sufficient to make ordinary people terrified radiated from this person, pressing toward Liu Saner.

This person was named You Xiaofeng, originally a martial artist of the Hudao Gang, and was now the Deputy Minister of the company's Martial Protection Department.

Oppressed by the martial artist's aura, Liu Saner's face turned pale immediately.

"You Xiaofeng, watch your language!"

A man sitting in the first position to Liu Saner's left glared at You Xiaofeng without showing any weakness.

He was 'Broken Gold Hand' Xiang Du, once Shangguan Xiao's right-hand man in the Qingyuan Boxing Village, and was also the only martial force supporter of Liu Saner among the high-level members of the Qingyuan City Management Company now.

You Xiaofeng ignored Xiang Du, still staring at Liu Saner:

"Half of the names on this list are my people; what do you mean? Targeting me?"

Liu Saner's face was pale, but he still forcibly stabilized his mind, gritting his teeth and saying:

"They are all people of the company; if they violate the rules, they should be handled!"

"Forget it!"

You Xiaofeng sneered, "They are the backbone of the company; how much merit have they made for the company? You say handle them, so you handle them?"

Liu Saner: "I am the General Manager of the company and have the power to handle anyone!"

"Hahahaha!"

You Xiaofeng laughed loudly, "You, this General Manager, are a joke; you are incompetent in both literature and martial arts. Besides sitting here and pointing fingers every day, what else can you do?"

"You Xiaofeng!"

Xiang Du radiated killing intent, staring fixedly at the other party.

You Xiaofeng stared back without showing any weakness: "Xiang Du, others fear you, but I don't!"

Xiang Du was previously the only martial artist practicing internal energy in the Qingyuan City Management Company, but now there was more than one martial artist practicing internal energy in the Qingyuan City Management Company.

"Two of you."

At this moment, a high-level member wearing gold-rimmed glasses suddenly spoke, "This is a meeting; there's no need to be so sword-drawn and bow-bent. Are you going to have a fight on the spot?"

You Xiaofeng snorted coldly, and Xiang Du didn't say anything more.

This high-level member wearing gold-rimmed glasses was named Xu Rui, responsible for the 'City Management' part of the Qingyuan City Management Company's business, managing the most people in the entire company, so his words naturally carried a lot of weight.

He looked at Liu Saner with a contemptuous gaze:

"General Manager Liu, I call you General Manager Liu, but you must remember that you were once just a boxing agent, and it was only because of good luck that you were favored by the Ghost King and allowed to be the General Manager of the company.

You ask yourself, the company can develop to its current scale and have its current momentum; does it really have too much to do with you?

You sit in the position of General Manager, or if a dog were changed to sit in your position, would there really be too much difference?"

"Hahahaha!"

You Xiaofeng laughed unscrupulously, and many people present also laughed.

Liu Saner's face flushed red, and he clenched his fists.

Xu Rui adjusted his glasses, looking at Liu Saner with a contemptuous gaze, saying word by word:

"You must remember, you are just a dog of the Ghost King. The Ghost King might not necessarily value you much, let alone the high-and-mighty Marquis of Jing'an? Do you really think that if the Marquis of Jing'an comes, he will support you?

Don't be naive; the company was supported by us. Even if the Marquis of Jing'an really comes, he will only value us!"

Xu Rui looked at Liu Saner, whose face had turned pale again, and shook his head pitifully:

"So, General Manager Liu, don't overestimate yourself; this company is not for you to decide."

Bang!

Just as his voice fell, the door of the conference room was pushed open violently, and a company member shouted excitedly:

"The Marquis of Jing'an is here!"

"What did you say?"

"The Marquis of Jing'an has already arrived downstairs at our company!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 364 =====

"What did you say?"

"The Marquis of Jing'an is already downstairs at our company!"

(End of chapter)