The room goes through the late Ming Dynasty, and the back door leads to North America at the beginni

Chapter 438 Every inch of land is valuable in Taiping Town

In the second year of Qianyuan, it was the third day of May.

Taiping Town, Dashui Ping Village.

Compared to a few years ago, there have been a lot of changes here.

In the past, the Dashui Ping Village was just a walled city in the mountains. Whether it was the city walls, roads, or houses in the wall, most of them were relatively dilapidated. That is to say, the former Dashui Ping Village's 100-household Ma Jinliang family house could be seen.

Today, in Dashui Pingzhai, not only the city walls have been renovated, but even the roads have been changed to cement roads. Not only is it smooth and beautiful, but it will no longer get muddy and difficult to step on when it rains.

Most of the houses in the village have been renovated or even rebuilt, and many shops have been added. It looks like a small town in the mountains.

In fact, today's Dashui Pingzhai is the center of Taiping Town, that is, the market area.

And now, relying on its geographical location, business and trade is quite prosperous.

What's the location?

Not only did it provide many jobs for the people in the walled city, it even caused the price of housing in the walled city to skyrocket.

Ordinary people in the walled city have made a lot of money in this series of changes, and even become rich. Ma Jinliang, as the former guardhouse of Dashui Pingzhai, was the minister of Conglong of Emperor Damei and Baron of Damei. , and naturally made a lot of money.

Therefore, when Dashui Pingzhai's business was booming and the real estate industry was heating up rapidly, Ma Jinliang got involved, made a lot of money from his previous properties, and became the largest landlord in the city.

The first stop for goods shipped from North America is here, such as salt, seafood, furs, medicinal materials, etc.

However, Liujiazhai was a secret place in Damei and merchants were not allowed to enter. Therefore, merchants took aim at Dashui Ping Village and settled in one after another. This naturally boosted the economy of Dashui Ping Village.

So some farsighted businessmen bought land in the walled city, built their own houses, and then sold them.

In addition, some goods here will also flow to North America through Dashui Pingzhai and Liujiazhai.

Although he sold almost all the land to Weibu, the shops and houses were still in his hands.

Of course, there are also smart people in the walled city. They earn money to build new houses and rent them out, and they can live comfortably by collecting rent. What's more, if you continue to build houses, sell them or rent them out, you will become a small rich man in the walled city within a year or two.

Not to mention that he still has a shop and runs his own business.

He doesn't lack business acumen either.

Now he can earn several hundred taels a month just by collecting rent.

Ma Jinliang is a person who is content with the status quo and doesn't like to make troubles, so the money he earns from rent collection and his own shop is enough to cover the expenses of his family, and he basically doesn't need to struggle anymore.

Considering that Dashui Pingzhai is a place of Longxing in Dawei and has special significance, its housing prices are even higher. Nowadays, whether it is buying or renting a house in the walled city, the price is higher than that in Ruyang City.

This in turn caused the land prices in the walled city to rise steadily, allowing the Taiping Town government to make a lot of money.

Even so, housing in the walled city is still in short supply.

Therefore, he stayed in his house on weekdays, listening to music, singing, drinking tea, and entertaining his children. Occasionally, he took his family to visit Queshan County. His life was much more comfortable than before when he was a householder.

On this day, Ma Jinliang was playing with his young son in the yard when he heard the concierge coming to report that Ma Gui had something to see him.

Ma Gui used to be Ma Jinliang's housekeeper, but now he is the deputy mayor of Taiping Town. Although he has not been ennobled, he holds some real power in Taiping Town, which is different from what he used to be.

Ma Jinliang did not hesitate and immediately asked the concierge to invite Ma Gui in. After Ma Gui arrived, he saw that Ma Jinliang was still coaxing the child to play, so he couldn't help but said: "Oh, my Lord Ma, why do you still have the mind to entertain the child? Didn't you hear that the imperial chariot is coming?"

Ma Jinliang sat with his youngest son on his knees and said with a smile: "I know, you can just organize a greeting like before. Just call me when the time comes."

Ma Gui reminded: "This is the first time that the emperor has returned to Tianmu Mountain. Mayor Li and I have discussed that even if the welcoming ceremony cannot be too big, it cannot be too small.

In addition, hasn’t Sir Alex heard about what happened in Wuyang? The man got so angry over the corruption case that he finally killed five corrupt officials and exiled hundreds of them! "

Hearing this, Ma Jinliang's expression suddenly changed. He looked at Ma Gui warily and said, "You and Li Fuchang have become corrupt officials, right?"

"How is that possible?" Ma Gui quickly clarified, "Others don't know about that person's ability, so how can we not know about it? Even if we want to commit corruption, we don't have the guts.

Besides, Taiping Town is developing so well now. Even if we make money through formal channels, we can still make a lot of money. Why do we need to risk corruption? "

Ma Jinliang knew very well that people's hearts are not as good as snakes swallowing elephants. What's more, when Ma Gui was the housekeeper of his family, he occasionally committed corruption. It was only because Ma Gui was more useful to him at that time and what he was greedy for was small money, so he pretended not to know about it.

Therefore, Ma Jinliang was very worried about Ma Gui's corruption as deputy mayor and came to drag him down.

Then he asked suspiciously, "Since you are not corrupt, why did you bring up the Wuyang corruption case?"

Ma Guidao: "We are not corrupt, but there is no guarantee that the people below are not corrupt. If this matter really happens and His Majesty finds out, I am afraid that we will also be implicated.

Therefore, I discussed with Mayor Li to conduct an inventory of all the officials in Taiping Town before His Majesty arrived.

Some of these officials have some relationship with you, Sir, so they came here to say hello.

Please tell them, Sir, that if there are really those who are corrupt or seeking power for personal gain, if they come forward to plead guilty themselves, the punishment may be reduced. "

Ma Jinliang frowned upon hearing this.

As the former official of the Hundred Households of Dashui Ping Village, there were naturally many people related to him in the village. If nothing else, wasn't Ma Gui his biggest relation household?

Taiping Town is an important town with special significance. There are dozens of officials, big and small. In the past year or two, Taiping Town has developed rapidly and is filled with gold and silver. It is normal for some people to be greedy for money and can't help but embezzle a little.

Therefore, it is really hard to guarantee that there are not one or two corrupt people here who have something to do with him.

But Ma Jinliang can be sure that he is definitely not involved - out of fear of Liu Sheng and awareness of his own identity, he has to consider whether he can accept anyone who gives him a gift.

He will never accept anything that cannot be accepted.

At this time, he once again recalled the gifts he had received in the past year or so, as well as some of the businesses his family had participated in. After making sure that there was no problem, he said: "You can do whatever you want, don't worry about my face - I'm just a little baron in Da'an, not a prince, so I can't take care of anyone."

Ma Gui smiled after hearing this, "With the Lord's words, Mayor Li and I can feel relieved."

After saying this, he bowed his hands and left, then left.

In the next few days, under the leadership of Li Fuchang and Ma Gui, the small Taiping Town experienced an "integrity storm" and sent one corrupt official and seven or eight other corrupt officials to the Queshan County Judgment Bureau.

Suddenly, both the original people of Taiping Town and the merchants who had settled in the past year or two all applauded.

In this atmosphere, Liu Sheng came to the foot of Tianmu Mountain with his bodyguards, personal guards and other entourage.

(End of this chapter)