Wei and Jin Cooks

Chapter 1245 Borrow money

Zhao Hu snorted coldly. Zhao Hanzhang set the maximum interest rate for private loans by law. How much higher could it be?

Although Zhao Hu was a fool, he did not dare to disobey her decree at this time, let alone in front of her.

 So he just asked: "How long will it be borrowed for?"

Zhao Hanzhang: "One year, next year at this time, I will repay the principal and interest in full."

Zhao Hu calculated in her mind how much she could get back by lending her the money at the highest interest rate. After a moment, she nodded, "Okay, I'll lend it to you."

Seeing that Zhao Hanzhang was in a good mood, Zhao Hu coughed lightly, followed her example, leaned closer to her, and said, "I heard someone said that the number of labor conscripts will be reduced next year, but the official laws and regulations entrusted to the Shangshu Province by the Zhongshu Ministry are There are a lot of water conservancy projects, but the money needs to be paid by the court?"

Zhao Hanzhang smiled half-heartedly, "Seventh uncle is so well-informed."

Zhao Hu said: "I am not the only one who knows this news, many people know it."

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes to cover her thoughts. It was no secret that the reduction of forced labor was not a secret. She said it in public in order to allow officials and people everywhere to rest.

However, the construction of official roads and water conservancy projects that the Zhongshu Province stipulates must be completed has just taken shape, and the Menxia Province has not yet approved and reviewed it.

Zhao Hanzhang decided to hand over the matter to Yuan Li for secret investigation. She knew that it was impossible to prevent the leakage of political information, especially this kind of information that they believed would not harm the national level but was profitable. Keep leaking it to people close to you.

 But this is just the beginning. If it is not curbed, the trend will become even more difficult to stop in the future.

Zhao Hanzhang didn't ask Zhao Hu where he got it from, and he probably wouldn't tell. Zhao Hanzhang raised his eyes, and his eyes were clear, "What do you think, Seventh Uncle?"

Zhao Hu said: "After the New Year, I want to form a work team. I have already named it. It will be called Zhao's Work Team. By then, we will take over the work of building houses for the people, as well as the work of building roads and digging canals for the court, and the official roads in Luoyang." Construction, please allocate a section to me.”

Zhao Hanzhang: “Where did you get the manpower?”

“I have it. Aren’t they the same people who have been building my house?”

Zhao Hanzhang: "Don't they have any land? Why don't they go home and farm?"

"Is your imperial court building roads just in time for the farming season?" Zhao Hu said: "I have already contacted them, and they come out to work during the slack season. As long as one person from a village is in my team, he can bring out the young and strong people in the village. , so don’t worry, people will take care of you enough.”

Zhao Hanzhang believes in this. When working as a migrant worker, one person takes care of a family, and a family takes care of a village. Isn’t this the human relationship in rural China?

 “Your work team relies entirely on day laborers?”

"That's not all. I also have slaves and tenants."

Zhao Hanzhang got excited when he talked about this, and said to Zhao Hu: "Seventh Uncle, you and I will redeem some people."

Zhao Hu immediately stayed away from her, leaned back and said, "Take my money to redeem my people? Don't even think about it! Huh, I am short of people now. If it weren't for you..."

Zhao Hu actually wanted to buy more slaves, but the land given by the court was too generous. The first two years were fine, because there were so many refugees, and there were many people who wanted to sell themselves on the road.

 But starting from this year, it won't work. Although there will still be refugees, he can't rob the court.

Zhao Hanzhang's reputation was too high at this time, and the common people believed in her. The direct impact was that the imperial court offered a piece of wasteland to mark their names, and they were willing to settle there, regardless of taking real money and grain. He who buys people.

Zhao Hu had a large area of ​​land that was uncultivated, so he had to release some of his slaves and send them to farm in the village.

 In fact, in Zhao Hu's current business structure, the annual return rate from the fields is not as good as that of his workshops and shops. But Zhao Hu still refused to let go. Not only Zhao Hanzhang, but also Zhao Song also persuaded him several times that if the land could not be cultivated, he could sell it to the outside, or sell it to the court to gain some face and let the court redeem it.

 But Zhao Hu refused.

He is smart, and he can't make any big reasons, but his initial capital comes from the fields, including the fact that he can follow Zhao Hanzhang to eat meat and drink soup because he has a large amount of grain produced by the fields.

In fact, those grains were not much when converted into money, but during the war, they could not be bought with money. It was only by relying on these grains that he obtained protection again and again from Zhao Hanzhang, and used her protection to carry out business operations. The team has opened stores all over the country.

 With the money earned, he hoards a large amount of grain, and then sells the grain to Zhao Jiajun, or supports Zhao Jiajun, thus gaining more convenience...

As to who Ji Yuan and the logistics officers in the army were most familiar with from the Zhao family, apart from Zhao Ming, it was Zhao Hu.

 Why was he able to become a marquis before Zhao Ming?

It's because, although he doesn't always serve in the front like Zhao Ming, he has always been Zhao Hanzhang's strong rear, and he has sacrificed a lot.

Zhao Hu is not smart, but his sensitivity to profit is far beyond the average person. He is keenly aware of the importance of land and food.

 Not only in the present, but also in the future.

 This will not change for at least three years.

 Let’s talk about what happens in three years’ time.

What’s more, even if he wanted to sell the land, he would not sell it to the imperial court. Although the imperial court would not lower his price, it could not sell it at a high price.

 After the world becomes stable, will those families who have fled everywhere come back?

Even if they just go back to a branch, are they willing to share the dozens of acres of thin land from the imperial court?

Those who want to buy land must buy it. It is best to buy a piece of land that once belonged to their family and their clan.

Zhao Hu had already reached this point when he first bought the land, so he chose some fertile farmland that had been abandoned by the big families after they fled.

 Mature land is easy to farm, easy to irrigate, has high yields, and there are potential buyers who can sell it at a high price. Don’t buy this land too much.

 It's a pity that I don't know who gave Zhao Hanzhang such a bad idea and directly issued a law prohibiting the private sale of land.

Moreover, even if he is not allowed to buy the land that has been taken back from the government from the Yamen, he will not be allowed to buy private land.

  In joint land sales, only landlords like them who own a large amount of land are allowed to transfer it to each other?

The more Zhao Hu thought about it, the angrier he became. He felt that Zhao Hanzhang had blocked many channels for him to get rich, so he asked angrily: "Will you give it to me or not?"

"Give it," Zhao Hanzhang said: "Seventh Uncle has spoken in person, how can I not give it? But we still have to say something ugly in front of you. Whether it is the quality of the project or the treatment of migrant workers, if you do not meet the regulations, I will not show favoritism. "

Zhao Hu snorted and said: "I don't expect you to be selfish. It's good if you don't block my way. Because of you, how many people have I lost this year? How much money have I gained in vain?"

The north was also affected by the regulations that the masters could not prevent slaves from redeeming themselves, and the ransom collected could not exceed three times the price of the slaves.

Many servants of the Zhao Hu family cautiously offered to redeem themselves.

Zhao Hu had to improve the wages and benefits of his slaves, so he kept most of them, and he let the rest who were determined to do so.

 To be honest, if Zhao Song hadn't been watching from the side and not allowing him to cause trouble, Zhao Hu would have had many means to make them give up the idea of ​​redemption.

 (End of this chapter)