Inside the government office of Songzhou City, Gu Zhongxun called his two sons back and tossed a memorial to them.
It clearly recorded how many bandits Song Jinzhao and Song Qiming had captured during their recent bandit suppression campaign, as well as the amount of stolen goods they had confiscated.
"To think they actually came up with the idea of replenishing the government treasury by wiping out bandits."
He had repeatedly warned Song Qiming to keep a low profile after arriving in Suining City. Who would have thought he would pull off something so massive right from the start?
After reading the memorial, Gu Huaiyuan stroked his chin in admiration.
"I actually think this is a pretty good method. They eliminated the bandits and obtained wealth at the same time. Perhaps we could give it a try too."
Gu Zhongxun rolled his eyes at him. "Songzhou City is not like Suining Prefecture. There are not that many bandit lairs for you to rob."
"Moreover, the twenty-four strongholds Song Qiming picked were all involved in murder and robbery. Only stolen goods with untraceable owners and unidentifiable origins can be confiscated, otherwise it would all be for nothing."
The clearly visible figures of 180,000 taels and 20,000 taels on the memorial shook Gu Huaiyuan to his core. He looked at his father reluctantly.
"Song Qiming is only giving us 20,000 taels. Is not this a bit against the rules?"
Confiscating such a large amount of stolen goods required the approval of Gu Zhongxun, the Provincial Administration Commissioner of the Southwest. The right to decide how to distribute it also lay with him, but on the memorial, it looked as if Song Qiming had already divided it all up.
Gu Zhongxun sighed; he was also bothered by this.
If it were just an ordinary prefect, he could have easily transferred all the confiscated goods to Songzhou City. But Song Qiming was different.
Song Jinzhao was also involved in this bandit suppression, so he had to show some restraint.
Besides, Songzhou City had not contributed any effort at all.
After struggling with it for a long time, Gu Zhongxun closed his eyes helplessly. Anyone could hear the reluctance in his tone.
"Forget it, consider it doing a favor for County Princess Linghui. After all, it is all going to be used for the development of Suining Prefecture, which is also within my jurisdiction."
Two days later, Song Qiming closed the reply letter with a bright smile and ordered, "Lord Gu has agreed. Have someone purchase bricks and stones immediately."
Saying that, he handed the blueprints drawn by Song Jinzhao to Shi Simian.
"This is the design blueprint for the labor camp. Build it according to this. Construction starts tomorrow."
Shi Simian furrowed his brows after taking the blueprint.
He looked up and advised Song Qiming disapprovingly, "My Lord, is not it a bit of a waste to build so many houses? Being able to hold a thousand people is more than enough."
"Furthermore, these houses do not look like places to hold prisoners. Building them this way will cost far more silver."
The captured bandits who were reported would be released after a period of time. There was absolutely no need to build a labor camp capable of holding two thousand people.
Rows upon rows of houses, each with its own door and courtyard, looked nothing like a labor camp.
Song Qiming replied, "It is not too much. Once the houses are empty, they will all be sold later."
Shi Simian raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Sold to whom?"
Building houses to sell? He was having a bit of trouble keeping up with Song Qiming's train of thought.
"To the people who want to move to Suining City in the future."
Shi Simian felt his head throb with a slight dizziness.
Every year, people moved away from Suining City. Trying to get commoners to buy houses here, and outside the outer city at that, was nothing short of a pipe dream.
At the same time, Song Jinzhao was holding a map and weaving through the streets and alleys of Suining City.
"Sister, out of all these places, which one are we going to choose?"
It had been six hours since they came out in the morning, and they had only rested for about thirty minutes during lunch. Song Anhao's feet were aching from all the walking.
Song Jinzhao looked down at him.
"Naturally, we need to choose a place with a lot of people and cheap land prices. If you are tired, you can go back first."
Song Anhao twisted his toes. His ankles were incredibly sore, and the soles of his feet hurt.
But he still insisted, "I am not tired."
He had finally gotten his sister to agree to teach him how to do business; he absolutely could not give up so easily.
She knew he was just putting up a brave front, but Song Jinzhao did not call him out on it.
Since he wanted to do it, he had to take it seriously. Only by following through from beginning to end could he be taught properly.
There is strength in numbers. The labor camp, capable of holding two thousand people, was completed in just seven days.
The entire labor camp was arranged in a square, ten rows by ten columns, featuring four hundred individual households, each with two rooms and a living hall.
There was also a large empty space in the middle, left to be used to build courtyards after they were sold.
Just looking at the exterior, no one would think this was a prison.
Over these seven days, the treasurer watched the silver flowing out like water and felt a stabbing pain in his heart.
At the rate the Prefect was spending, over a hundred thousand taels of silver would not last very long.
In the room of the government office's second hall, Song Qiming asked Shi Simian.
"Suining Prefecture is considered an important border city. Did not the imperial court send any potato seeds over?"
Now that the houses were built, it was time to reclaim the wasteland, and seeds should be bought.
The plan to build a defensive military farming system using potatoes had already started implementation this year. The seeds had been dispatched to various important military towns long before Song Qiming left the capital, but there was no mention of it at all in the records of the Suining government office.
Shi Simian revealed a bitter smile.
"My Lord, you might not know this, but all the potato seeds that were sent over were kept in Songzhou City by Lord Gu Zhongxun. No other places received any."
Song Qiming blinked and realized that they had all been withheld by Gu Zhongxun.
He lowered his eyes, his voice so quiet it sounded as if he were muttering to himself.
"Let me think about this matter. You may step down for now."
Shi Simian bowed his head and took his leave. "Yes."
It would be great if Prefect Song could manage to get the potato seeds.
