Flowers in full bloom

Chapter 499 Planning Ahead

When officials arrived in Mobei, they definitely needed a place to stay. In terms of geographical location, Mobei Town was the northernmost town, and the newly built provincial capital must be further north, so Mobei Town became the town closest to the newly built provincial capital.

Therefore, when the time comes, we will definitely settle down in the small town of Mobei. We will buy a shop with a good road section in Mobei in advance and open a restaurant and inn, specifically targeting these wealthy families and officials. Business will definitely be good."

"This... is a good idea, but if we open a restaurant or inn, we will need someone to take care of the manager, chef and other responsibilities. I am busy with military affairs, and your mother's health is not very good..." Pei Jingyang hesitated to speak.

"Father, don't worry. Grandfather and I have discussed this matter. Grandfather has already sent a message to Shopkeeper Wu of Mobei Shop, and he has helped to find a shopkeeper and clerk.

You don't need to worry about it, just sit back and help the restaurant suppress those people with ulterior motives.

Even if we can't open a restaurant, we can still make some money by buying a shop and subletting or reselling it. In the future, Mobei Town will definitely be bustling for a few years." Hua Lei said confidently.

Pei Jingyang stroked his chin, thought for a while, nodded, and said, "Okay, I'll help keep an eye on the shop this time I go back. What about the land? Put it on hold?"

Pei Jingyang looked at Hua Lei and asked. Hua Lei nodded slightly and answered.

"Father, we can put the purchase of the land on hold. After all, we don't know the specific plans of the imperial court yet. We probably have to wait until the officials from the capital arrive in Mobei and see the plans for the construction of the provincial capital before we can take action.

But we need to prepare the money first, so that once we see the specific plan, we can start immediately. "Hua Lei said with a smile, paused, and then said.

"However, father, I think it would be good if we opened a brick kiln first. The court will definitely need a lot of bricks and tiles when building a new state capital.

If the imperial court takes care of all the problems, I think it may be too late, and we may have to purchase from the public. Even if the imperial court does not purchase from us, the people will build a lot of houses and need bricks and tiles. What do you think?

Of course, lumber shops are also fine. They chop down trees and process them into semi-finished products like beams, rafters, and wooden windows, or daily necessities like wooden basins and barrels, which can then be sold.

It is also possible to make adobe bricks for building adobe houses. If people feel that building brick houses is too expensive, they may be able to build adobe houses.

Although they can make adobe themselves, I think adobe also has a certain sales market. When the imperial court built brick houses, it also built some auxiliary houses.

For example, huts, stables, livestock pens, etc., all require adobe. After all, it is not realistic to use blue bricks for everything." Hua Lei suggested again.

Pei Jingyang was stunned. This... this is a good idea. This is more reliable than a restaurant or inn, and it doesn't require much investment. Just find a suitable mountain, dig the soil, and if you want to make it, you can find a master and learn it.

There are many people who retire from the military camp every year, but not all of them return to the capital. Many of them are local people.

If we build a brick kiln, we can make adobe and burn bricks and tiles, then the business will be good. In this way, retired soldiers can find jobs to support their families and earn a lot of money.

Pei Jingyang was very happy. No wonder his father was so satisfied with Lei'er. Lei'er was a real think tank.

"If we build brick kilns and lumber mills as Sister Hua said, we need to understand some of the actual conditions in Mobei. For example, where is the soil suitable for firing green bricks, where is the wood suitable for building houses, etc.

As for the planning map, you can actually ask Uncle San. He is in the Ministry of Revenue, so maybe he has some information. After all, the first people to know about this, besides the emperor, are the Ministry of Revenue. " Rong Jin interrupted.

"Well, I'll ask your third uncle about this then." Pei Jingyang nodded, looked outside the door, leaned over and asked Hua Lei in a low voice.

"But, Lei'er, I have a topographic map of the entire Mobei area, including the topographic map of the newly conquered area. Do you want to take a look?"

"Can I see it?" Hua Lei also lowered her voice.

"Just the three of us, watching secretly. Don't tell anyone once you leave this room, not even your grandfather." Pei Jingyang whispered with a guilty conscience.

Hualei nodded involuntarily. Pei Jingyang took a bunch of keys from his waist, opened several drawers on the left side of the desk, took out several books from the drawers, and took out two books from the bookshelf on the wall and put them on the desk.

Then he pulled out a dozen pieces of slightly hard paper with irregular patterns from each book and placed them on the desk.

After a little fiddling, he arranged the dozens of irregularly shaped papers in a certain order, and a map with relatively rough lines appeared in front of Hualei's eyes.

Uh, this... Pei Jingyang's "sly" look really opened Hualei's eyes. It seems that she still doesn't know this father-in-law well enough!

But it was indeed quite clever. Without any of the pieces of cardboard, the entire map could not be pieced together. Looking at Pei Jingyang, who was smiling with a "simple and honest" look, Hua Lei suppressed her surprise and looked at the map intently.

Although the lines on the map were rather rough and the writing was a bit sloppy, one could still clearly see where the government offices, fields, and mountains were.

The newly conquered area is, as a whole, roughly crescent-shaped, close to a semicircle, and the outermost arc is the Changling Mountains.

The points on the area were marked more clearly. Where was the basin? Where was the passage? The approximate height of the mountain, the length and width of the passage were all marked in small letters. It was completely like a military map.

"If the imperial court wants to build a prefecture, the most likely location is here, and the second most likely location is here." Pei Jingyang said, pointing to two places on the map.

Hua Lei nodded in agreement. The two places Pei Jingyang pointed to were the two locations at the bottom of the southern foot of Changling Mountain.

If built at these two locations, it will form a triangle shape with the two current towns, Mobei Town and Modong Town.

It’s just that one is a right triangle, and the other is an ordinary acute triangle, and when combined with the location of the original provincial capital, Anlefu, it forms a quadrilateral shape, so that they can share what they have and rely on each other.

If the imperial court's Ministry of Works chose to build a prefecture, these issues would certainly be taken into consideration.