novelaction Chapter 523 A bold move
Chapter 523 A bold move
Mu Xin Nuan understood his headache; the real reason was that this beauty absolutely could not suffer any more accidents, otherwise, the Empress in the capital would likely focus all her suspicions on him. Although Duanmu Chu Ze didn't want to touch her, he couldn't allow Mu Xin Nuan to be suspected. Especially not by the Empress.
Mu Xin Nuan didn't care about this kind of thing.
In her view, this was Duanmu Chuze's own business. Besides, this woman was different from the previous two; she was clearly more cunning and harder to deal with. She figured it was better to just listen to him and behave herself.
The stone carving and other preparations that had been underway have now yielded considerable results, attracting visitors from not only Yanzhou but also many other places to view the finished stone carvings.
Duanmu Chuze put a lot of effort into this, providing free escorts to any merchant who came to Yanzhou to buy stone carvings in bulk.
In other words, their own escort agency would provide free escorts, and the expenses would naturally be covered by the government of Yanzhou.
In addition, Duanmu Chuze promulgated several laws that further facilitated the interactions between merchants.
For example, any stone carving purchased in Yanzhou for more than one thousand taels of silver will receive support from the local government, including a three-day accommodation fee waiver.
The various preferential policies have attracted many businessmen to come here.
Of course, the reason they came was because of the stone carvings.
Only by making good stone carvings will people be willing to buy them.
In the past, whenever people talked about stone carvings, they would think of the two stone lions at the gate of a wealthy family's house, or the stone carvings on some jade railings.
But when these merchants arrived in Yanzhou, they realized that stone carvings could be made so exquisitely and in such a small way.
Some stone carvings are no bigger than the palm of your hand, but the figures, flowers, animals and so on carved out are all lifelike.
The stone carvings of Yanzhou completely overturned people's concept of stone carvings.
To quickly revitalize Yanzhou, Duanmu Chuze, after much deliberation and several days of discussion with key officials, finally decided to build a stone carving market in Yu County. This market would primarily provide a space for stone carvers and merchants to display their representative works in their shops. This would allow merchants visiting Yanzhou to see various types of stone carvings at once, saving them the trouble of traveling back and forth, and would also effectively showcase the unique characteristics of Yanzhou.
Of course, this cannot be accomplished in a day or two.
According to repeated calculations by Xu Hai and others, it would take at least one and a half to two years to build the entire market.
According to Duanmu Chuze, the market would occupy an area roughly the size of two villages. Furthermore, four main streets would need to be built, along with a dedicated government office to maintain order. Several other supporting buildings would also be required.
For example, there should be larger facilities specifically used for restaurants, inns, teahouses, chess rooms, and so on.
In short, this place has all the businesses you can think of.
They even considered large-scale projects like escort agencies.
The entire construction will be supervised by the government. After completion, it will be divided into two parts: one part will belong to the government and will only be available for lease, while the other part can be purchased by local nobles and gentry. However, each household must sign a relevant agreement with the government before making a purchase.
This was also one of the methods that Duanmu Chuze could think of to use power to restrain these so-called nobles.
For example, we can't let them arbitrarily raise rents, and we can't let them mess around in this stone carving market, creating some incongruous things that disrupt the whole plan.
However, Duanmu Chuze also considered a problem: this amount of silver was not a small sum.
Liu Yi calculated the approximate amount of silver needed and divided it into several batches. The first batch, which required the government to invest, amounted to as much as 100,000 taels of silver.
In fact, everyone knew that the prince's method was excellent. Yu County itself was a county that had been severely affected by the disaster, and many people were starving. Although they could barely afford to eat two meals a day, the unstable factors were still too great.
If the prince's policy is implemented, it will require at least ten thousand laborers, which will greatly reduce the burden on the local government of Yu County. Of course, the prince's intention is to have Yu County also contribute more.
However, this would involve issues such as food supplies, which would likely increase costs.
Duanmu Chuze had considered everything they had considered.
Actually, there is another way that can both speed up the construction of this stone carving market and reduce some expenses.
Duanmu Chuze quickly gave Zi Yi an order to call Li Haoran back.
At the same time, Duanmu Chuze wrote a letter to his father-in-law, Mu Chang'an, asking him to draw more sketches and to annotate the points that needed attention when building such a large-scale market.
Of course, at the end of the letter, Duanmu Chuze still made a small suggestion: to see if he could persuade his father to transfer a few capable assistants from the Ministry of Works to him.
Duanmu Chuze could certainly request permission from the Emperor, but he knew that Mu Chang'an had previously served as the Minister of Works, so his understanding of the Ministry of Works far surpassed that of himself.
His original intention was to have Mu Chang'an recommend a few people who were truly capable and reliable.
After receiving the letter, Mu Chang'an couldn't help but think more highly of this son-in-law.
In such a harsh and cold place as Yan, this son-in-law has only been there for half a year, yet there are already signs of improvement in Yan. It seems that this Prince Chang Le is not only good at leading troops into battle.
As for his previous behavior in the capital, the main reason was probably that he didn't want to get involved in the power struggle among his brothers.
Or perhaps, he did it to put the Crown Prince and the Emperor at ease.
After all, he has achieved such unparalleled military merits at such a young age. If he has any other talents or abilities, then everyone's attention will be focused on him, and his life will be difficult.
Mu Chang'an chuckled and shook his head. "This son-in-law is quite a surprise. It seems A-Nuan made the right choice. Excellent! Excellent!"
Mu Chang'an's words were full of praise and affirmation.
When Li entered the room, she heard him nodding and smiling, saying "Not bad."
Holding a tray in her hands, Madam Li smiled and asked, "Who is the master praising?"