170: Chapter 170 Expansion of the Pei Clan's Territory

Returning to the ancestral home.

After resting for half a day, Pei Qingyun made simple inquiries about the status of the Family's industries.

Over the past month or so, the various industries of the Wuyang Pei Clan had been developing smoothly.

Although the Wuyang Pei Clan had not yet reached the point of having the final say in the entire Jinhuai Prefecture, it was already gaining a small reputation.

However, during this period, a Calamity of Demons broke out in Wuyang County once again. But with the cooperation of the Pei Clan, the Calamity of Demons was suppressed in less than half a month, which was easier than any previous time.

This undoubtedly indicated that the strength of the Wuyang Pei Clan had already surpassed the combined strength of the original three Great Families.

With the Wuyang Pei Clan, a Great Family with a Grandmaster, holding down the fort, Wuyang City had become increasingly prosperous, and the population was growing day by day.

Compared to when it faced the Calamity of Demons last year, the population of Wuyang City had grown by nearly fifty percent.

Especially on Shiming Street, where the Wuyang Pei Clan was located, the population had increased by more than double.

The population growth had benefited all the major forces in Wuyang City; the number of Divine Strength Martial Artists had increased by nearly twenty percent compared to last year, and there were several more at Divine Power Perfection.

It could be expected that in the next few years, new Five-Viscera Martial Artists would inevitably be born among the various major forces. However, even if a Five-Viscera Martial Artist were truly born among them, they would still need to accumulate a certain amount of merit and foundation to challenge the status of a Great Family.

During this period of rapid development, the number of Pei Clan members had also entered a stage of continuous growth. This was all thanks to Pei Qingyun's reforms.

Pei Clan members were encouraged to have more children and would receive resource support to a certain extent. The younger generation, after reaching the age of sixteen, was arranged by the Family to marry early and have children early.

Of course, explosive population growth still requires a certain cycle. This time span would require ten or even twenty years, or even extend to the next generation.

Planning ahead.

Under Pei Qingyun's arrangements, Pei Tianrong had recently been working on the expansion of the Pei Clan Estate.

The original Pei Clan Estate already had hundreds of rooms, dozens of detached courtyards, and as many as a thousand side rooms.

If it were based on the Pei Clan's original size, such a large piece of land would naturally be enough.

But now, it was already showing signs of being insufficient.

Just in this period, the number of personnel and servants serving the Pei Clan had increased by nearly twenty percent, and this scale was still showing a trend of expansion.

As of now, Pei Qingyun's plan was still mainly to expand the existing territory of the Pei Clan Estate.

In the future, he would consider setting aside a separate piece of land to serve as a branch of the Pei Clan Estate.

But even so, the workload was not small.

Inside the ancestral home.

Pei Tianrong stood in front of Pei Qingyun and said respectfully, "Old Ancestor, the plan for expanding the clan estate has already been passed by the Family meeting. This time, when expanding the clan estate, we expect to recruit one thousand ordinary laborers. As for the construction period, it will take about half a year, which is currently the optimal plan."

"Half a year is still too long. Over the past half year, a large number of people have poured into Wuyang City, and the city already has a surplus of labor, resulting in congestion, turbidity, and chaos. Especially on Shiming Street, where the population is more than double what it was, which has seriously affected travel."

"Didn't the new County Magistrate Chen want our Pei Clan to help solve the problem of surplus labor? You don't need to be too rigid with the budget for the expansion of the clan estate; the number of laborers recruited can be increased appropriately," Pei Qingyun explained.

Pei Tianrong thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, "The number of laborers can indeed be increased appropriately. But if it is to be built according to the Old Ancestor's requirements, while ensuring quality and quantity and complying with the plan, it will take at least five months."

"Five months, then five months it is," Pei Qingyun said helplessly.

In his past life, cutting corners in construction was a common occurrence.

But when building the clan estate, he naturally couldn't do that. How could one cut corners and steal from one's own Family?

Unless he was missing a screw in his head.

It was also at this time that Pei Qingyun thought of another matter, "By the way, has that piece of land on the north side of Wuyang City been cleared?"

Pei Tianrong said in confusion, "It has been cleared, but there are still strange beasts appearing. Old Ancestor, why did you specifically choose that piece of land? This place is fully five miles away from Wuyang City and is close to the Hengduan Mountain Range; it has absolutely no value for development. Tianrong still cannot understand it to this day."

Pei Qingyun smiled, not explaining too much, "You will understand in the future."

In fact, Pei Qingyun intended to build a trading market on this piece of land.

The population was increasing day by day, and the scale of Wuyang City could no longer meet the needs of population growth; wanting to expand the city was not something that could be done overnight.

Moreover, the matter of expanding the city also belonged to the internal affairs of the imperial court. Even if someone strongly recommended it, after a series of audits, ten years might not be enough.

This was also a common ailment of the imperial court.

Anything involving silver, expanding the army, or expanding the city had a long process to go through, and there were even officials from above coming to conduct on-site inspections.

In Wuyang City, although the Pei Clan was the largest Family, it was not the Pei Clan's own private territory after all.

As for buying up other people's land and houses in the city, it was obviously not cost-effective.

Even if his Pei Clan were wealthier, it was impossible for them to work for the benefit of the imperial court.

Rather than that, it would be much more cost-effective for the Pei Clan to fund the creation of a piece of land outside Wuyang City.

Moreover, Pei Qingyun had already thought of a business that would recoup the costs.

It was just that the strange beasts had not been completely cleared, so it could not be implemented immediately, but Pei Qingyun was not in a hurry.

The next day.

Notices were posted in the streets and alleys of Shiming Street: the Pei Clan was going to recruit a batch of laborers to build the clan estate.

Although Shiming Street was already much wealthier than it had been more than half a year ago, the wealthy were always the minority, and the bottom-level commoners made up the majority.

"Have you heard? The Pei Family is going to recruit a batch of laborers. Anyone who is an adult can participate in this recruitment. As long as the laborers pass the recruitment, during the period of building the Pei Clan Estate, the Pei Family will provide three free meals a day, and there will also be two taels of silver every month."

"Is there really such a good thing? It wouldn't be fake, would it? Two taels of silver a month, plus food included."

"It shouldn't be fake; my sister-in-law's husband said so. It is said that recruitment notices have been posted on the east city wall. If it weren't for my sister-in-law's husband being literate, I wouldn't have known about this news. I see you are also a pragmatic person, brother; why don't we go to the Pei Family together to give it a try?"

"Since that's the case, what are you waiting for? If the Pei Family finishes recruiting, we won't have a chance."

...

On an open space not far from the Pei Clan Estate, a member of the Pei Clan was in charge of the recruitment matters.

Early in the morning, the personnel responsible for posting the recruitment notices had already filled Shiming Street with them.

But by the end of the afternoon, only a little over a hundred people had come. This was still far from the one thousand five hundred people required by Pei Qingyun.

At this speed, it was absolutely impossible to complete the recruitment in three days.

But through these recruited laborers, Pei Qingyun still discovered the reason.