Chapter 327 Sale of Houses and Shops

The first day of the twelfth lunar month.

Yang Zhengshan set up two banquet tables in the yamen to entertain the invited guests.

In fact, there weren't many customers, only about a dozen at most.

Ji Hai and Ning Qingqing from the Hengdao Sect in Jizhou, Hua Jinqiu from the Tianqing Sword Sect in Anyuan Prefecture, Zhang Qingsong from the Zhang family in Liaoan Prefecture, Mr. Lu and Lu Qi from the Lu family in Anning County, as well as Yang Zhengxiang and Yang Mingcheng representing the Yang clan.

In addition, there are Shang Mingde from the Shang family in Jing'an Prefecture, Wang Zhenze from the wealthy Wang family, and the heads of the Zhang and Lin families.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan also invited the Lu family, but the Lu family only sent someone to deliver a letter. It was not that the Lu family disliked Yang Zhengshan and Tenglongwei, but that the Lu family's foundation was too weak and they did not have much money, so they did not come to get involved.

Ever since Lu Wenyuan entered the Hanlin Academy, the Lu family has been taking care of Lu Wenyuan. They bought him a house and several servants in Kyoto, and also purchased some land in the counties around Kyoto, almost emptying out their family assets.

Some time ago, the brothers Lu Zhaoqi and Lu Zhaoran went to Kyoto and have not returned yet. Now the only old man Lu Songhe is left in the Lu family, and there is no suitable candidate.

Besides, Lu Wenhua is still here, so there is no need for Lu Wenhua to send someone here alone.

At the yamen, Yang Zhengshan asked Han Fei, Zhou Ren and Lu Wenhua to accompany him.

Before the banquet started, Yang Zhengshan first talked about the future development and planning of Tenglongwei, that is, he repeated to the people in front of him what he had said to Luo Shang before.

"That's basically it. In March after the Chinese New Year, Tenglongwei's merchant ships will go to Jiangnan and open up the shipping route to Jiangnan first. If nothing goes wrong, we will also try to open up shipping routes to the Lisheng Dynasty and the Desheng Dynasty in June!"

"Once these three routes are opened, Tenglongwei will be the largest maritime trade port within a radius of 200 miles!"

"Whether it's Jing'an Prefecture, Liao'an Prefecture, Qinghua Prefecture, Ningyuan Prefecture, or Chongshan Town, they can all conduct overseas trade through Tenglongwei!"

"In addition, if all three routes are opened, we will also allow you to form your own fleet to go out to sea for trade. The Tenglongwei Navy will ensure the safety of the route. Of course, we will also charge a fee, half of the total value of the goods!"

"Compared to the Maritime Customs, this fee should not be too high. Moreover, if your fleet is hijacked, we will do our best to help you get it back!"

Yang Zhengshan said slowly.

If you conduct maritime trade in Dayong, you must go through the tax collection of the Maritime Customs. If you don't collect taxes, it is considered smuggling. Although smuggling by maritime merchants in the south and southeast regions of Dayong is rampant nowadays, it is still rare in the Liaodong region.

Yang Zhengshan naturally would not levy taxes on the Maritime Customs. The emperor allowed Tenglong Guard to engage in maritime trade, and the Maritime Customs had no control over Tenglong Guard.

The purpose of bringing these merchants in is to expand the scale of Tenglongwei's maritime trade. If Tenglongwei wants to develop maritime trade on its own, it may take ten years to achieve scale. However, if these forces are brought in and asked to pay for the purchase of ships and form a fleet, it may only take three years for the Tenglongwei wharf to develop.

"If you have any questions, please feel free to ask and I will answer them one by one!" After Yang Zhengshan finished speaking, he looked at the people below.

Everyone had different expressions. People like the Yang family and the Tianqing Sword Sect absolutely trusted Yang Zhengshan, so naturally they would do whatever Yang Zhengshan arranged.

As for the Lu family, Mr. Lu and Lu Qi would not reject Yang Zhengshan's proposal. Their goal was to maintain a good relationship with Yang Zhengshan. As for money? It didn't matter even if they lost some.

As for the others, they had some concerns in their hearts. Their relationship with Yang Zhengshan was not very close. It was okay to spend some money to please Yang Zhengshan, but it depended on how much money they had to spend.

"General Yang, I have a question!"

The first person to speak was Ji Hai. Their Hengdaomen was in Jizhou. Although Jizhou did not have any coastal docks, it had river transportation that could lead directly to the sea, so there were still quite a few maritime merchants in Jizhou.

The Maritime Customs Office in Liaodong region was located in Jizhou.

"Please speak!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

"Then, if we conduct maritime trade in Tenglongwei, do we still need to pay a commission to the Maritime Customs?" Ji Hai asked.

The Hengdao Sect has many industries, some of which involve maritime trade. However, as a martial arts sect, the Hengdao Sect has always been cautious in their actions, so their maritime trade is usually conducted through the Maritime Customs.

"Tenglong Guard doesn't have the Maritime Customs!" Yang Zhengshan said with a faint smile, "The Maritime Customs has no control over Tenglong Guard!"

"To put it simply, the Maritime Customs will not collect taxes on you in Tenglongwei's territory, but once you leave Tenglongwei, it will depend on your ability!"

Yang Zhengshan did not guarantee that this matter could not be handled by Tenglongwei.

Although the emperor agreed to allow Tenglongwei to engage in maritime trade, he did not agree that other maritime merchants could go out to sea from Tenglongwei. Of course, the emperor did not prohibit it either.

Simply put, this is a loophole.

The Maritime Customs cannot enter Tenglongwei, but the Maritime Customs is in Jizhou. If they cause trouble for the Hengdao Gate, the Hengdao Gate will have to handle it themselves, and Yang Zhengshan will not help.

Ji Hai nodded in understanding; this answer was quite satisfactory to him.

Since there is no trouble in Tenglongwei's territory, everything will be easy. There is a lot of room for maneuver and there is no problem in bypassing the Maritime Customs.

"General, I have a question." Zhang Man, the head of the Zhang family in Jing'an Prefecture, stood up and clasped his fists. "Excuse me, Mr. Zhang!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

The Zhang family of Jing'an Prefecture has no relationship with the Zhang family of Liao'an Prefecture. The Zhang family of Jing'an mainly runs a cloth shop and its strength is far inferior to that of the Zhang family of Liao'an. Previously, when Tenglongwei purchased cotton cloth, the Zhang family of Jing'an helped Tenglongwei, so this time Yang Zhengshan also sent him an invitation.

Zhang Man clasped his fists again and said, "Our Zhang family is financially limited and it is difficult for us to buy merchant ships. I wonder if we can ask the merchant ships of the Weisi Yamen to help us transport our goods?"

With the financial resources of the Zhang family in Jing'an, it would be very difficult to buy a fleet. They would probably have to spend most of their family assets.

In this way, the risks they bear will be much greater, and once an accident occurs, the entire family may decline.

It is understandable that they dare not take such risks.

"Of course!" Yang Zhengshan said with a smile.

Using merchant ships for transportation may reduce the fleet's profits a lot, but it is not impossible. Don't forget that he still has the Tenglongwei Navy, and the navy's warships can also be used for transportation.

Then everyone asked a few more questions, all of which were very reasonable. Yang Zhengshan patiently answered them one by one and tried his best to eliminate their concerns.

Almost half an hour had passed before the crowd finished asking questions. It could be seen that they were still very interested in maritime trade, but because they had never been involved in it before, they had more concerns in their hearts.

However, with the guarantee from Yang Zhengshan and Tenglongwei, they still want to participate in maritime trade.

After talking about the maritime trade, Yang Zhengshan took out the houses and shops in the Acropolis.

These people did not have so many concerns about the houses and shops. Yang Zhengshan just gave a brief explanation and these people responded one after another. They quickly divided up all the houses and shops, and some of them even felt unsatisfied.

Unfortunately, the Acropolis is so small, and Yang Zhengshan has planned so many houses and shops, so they can't buy or rent more.

After the matters concerning the house and the shop were concluded, Yang Zhengshan was in a very good mood and toasted with everyone.

……

In the following days, families came to Tenglongwei with money to buy houses and rent shops.

Houses in the Acropolis can be bought, but shops can only be rented.

In fact, Yang Zhengshan's pricing for the mansions was not expensive. A large courtyard with three entrances cost only two thousand taels of silver, a small courtyard with three entrances cost only eight hundred taels, and a small courtyard with a private entrance cost only two hundred taels. These prices were cheaper than those in many county towns.

But even so, the Weisi Yamen made a fortune.

Ten large courtyards with three entrances cost 20,000 taels of silver, thirty small courtyards with three entrances cost 24,000 taels of silver, and one hundred small courtyards with independent entrances also cost 20,000 taels of silver.

The total income was 64,000 taels.

The cost paid by the Wei Si Yamen was only several months' labor costs for the engineering team. Bricks, stones and wood were all locally sourced and fired or made on site. The total cost was no more than ten thousand taels.

In this regard, Yang Zhengshan had to sigh that real estate development is really profitable.

Unfortunately, this was the only time that Tenglongwei could make money from the house.

Compared to the mansion, the profits from the shops in Tenglongwei were much less. There were a total of 48 shops, and Yang Zhengshan kept 10 of them. The annual rent for the remaining 36 was between 100 and 500 taels.

If the rent for three years is paid in one lump sum, the total income would be only over ten thousand taels of silver.

However, this is still a considerable income for the government office, and the shop can continue to collect rent and make money in the future, while the house can only make money once.

As for the ten shops left by Yang Zhengshan, the yamen only needed two, one was a blacksmith shop and the other was a carpenter shop, and the remaining eight were rented to officials in the yamen.

Such as Xie Yuan, Song Dashan, Wu Chongzhe, Yu Tonghai, Luo Feiyu, Yang Mingzhen, Xue Ping, etc., each of them has one room.

This can be considered an internal welfare of the yamen and care for its own people.

The Yang family will acquire property, and these people will also acquire property.

People like Song Dashan, Luo Feiyu and Yang Mingzhen came from humble backgrounds, had limited family backgrounds and owned relatively few properties.

But people like Xie Yuan and Wu Chongzhe are different. Xie Yuan was originally a defense officer of a thousand households and had some family background, not to mention Wu Chongzhe. The starting point of the Wu family is much higher than that of the Yang family.

Let’s not talk about what happened in the past, but now they all hold high official positions, so it is reasonable for them to acquire some industries for their own families.

In this regard, Yang Zhengshan has always taken care of people whenever he could. He would not tolerate corruption or bribery, but he could seek personal gain at the same time and achieve mutual benefit with the government. Yang Zhengshan has always done so, and naturally he also allows his subordinates to do so.

The shops in the Acropolis are rented to anyone. Thirty-six shops are enough to attract other forces. Giving the rest to Xie Yuan, Song Dashan and others will not affect the overall situation.

(End of this chapter)