172: Chapter 172 Growing Stronger and Stronger

With the completion of the expansion, the Pei Clan Estate was nearly twice as large as it had been originally.

This did not differ much from what Pei Qingyun had envisioned.

However, the architectural style remained primarily that of the common Great Family style of the Great Jing Dynasty, with a few of his own ideas added.

As for the skyscrapers from his past life, he had no intention of bringing them over for the time being.

It was not that he could not design the structures, or that there were no similar Materials available.

As long as he was willing, he could still cobble together basic Materials with similar properties.

Of course, if it involved high-tech manufacturing, he would be powerless.

At this moment, it was already the tenth month.

The intense summer heat had faded, and early autumn had arrived.

Even while staying within the Pei Clan Estate, Pei Qingyun still felt a hint of chill on his body.

An hour later, Pei Qingyun took a walk around the estate. Since the completion of the expansion, this was his first time taking in the whole view.

Overall, he was quite satisfied.

After all, everything had been done according to his plans. There were only a few minor flaws in some places, but Pei Qingyun had never been a person who fussed over trifles.

To reach this level of craftsmanship in less than half a year was already quite good.

Of course, the expansion naturally required money; just the labor costs consumed nearly twenty thousand taels of silver, which included wages and two meals.

Besides that, the cost of Materials and losses also added up to quite a lot. The costs in this area were actually higher than the labor costs, even significantly so, totaling sixty thousand taels of silver.

In the Great Jing Dynasty, unless one was hiring a Martial Artist, the cost of hiring ordinary people was notoriously low.

This was still because Pei Qingyun had not deliberately suppressed the wages; otherwise, the labor costs could have been cut in half.

As for the land, there was no need to spend extra money. The land within a one-mile radius of the Pei Clan Estate all belonged to the Pei Clan.

But after this expansion, if the Pei Clan wanted to requisition more land, they would have to spend silver.

All in all, the total cost of this expansion was less than one hundred thousand taels.

If this had been a year and a half ago, this would undoubtedly have been a huge expense.

But for the current Pei Clan, it was less than one month's net profit.

As of October this year, in just nine months, the various industries within Jinhuai Prefecture had generated one million three hundred thousand taels in revenue.

This was seventy percent higher than the total revenue Pei Qingyun had anticipated.

As for the reasons for such a significant change, there were many, but three points were the most obvious.

First, over the past six months, the total profits of the various industries operated by the Pei Clan had risen slightly, as had all the affiliated industries.

The increase in the population of Wuyang had also led to a gradual improvement in economic benefits.

However, the impact brought by this portion of the revenue accounted for less than ten percent of the total profit.

Besides that, the Yuanhang Trade Caravan had reached a new level after six months of rapid development.

Over two consecutive quarters, the profits had been over one hundred and fifty thousand taels. This alone had caused the total revenue to rise by ten percent.

However, the largest portion came from the share of Deep Water Harbor. After the Gale Pirates were dealt with, the Heyuan Hu Clan and Luo Clan had obediently paid one million taels in compensation.

At the same time, they also learned of Pei Dinglong's background.

The Longxi Pei Clan, a top-tier second-rate Family in Longxi Prefecture with a Grandmaster of Meridians sitting in command.

Crushing the Heyuan Hu Clan and the Luo Clan was as simple as crushing an ant.

Although the Great Families of various prefectures were not supposed to attack each other without cause, that was established on the premise of being in the open and without legitimate reason.

If the disparity in strength between the Great Families was too great, creating trouble, whether in secret or in the open, was an easy matter.

How could the imperial laws protect them?

Upon learning of this situation, Luo Dingpeng and Hu Weiyong were secretly relieved.

If they had resisted stubbornly, even if they had managed to escape, the consequences would have been unpredictable.

Paying a sum of compensation was the only sensible path.

Furthermore, the two families specifically linked their transport business with Deep Water Harbor.

Their purpose was self-evident; naturally, it was to curry favor with the Wuyang Pei Clan.

The Cui Clan was naturally unwilling, although Pei Qingyun had not taken the initiative to inform them of the two Grandmasters' identities.

But so much time had passed that Cui Ruiyuan also knew it was his own in-laws who were plotting against him.

If it hadn't been for Pei Qingyun, whom he had invited, saving the Cui Clan, this alone would have been enough to force him to step down.

Yet even so, the pain of being backstabbed by his in-laws was still like a sharp thorn piercing deeply into his heart.

He naturally did not welcome the Hu and Cui Clans, even if the two families were sending profits for the sake of Deep Water Harbor.

But he also knew that the two families were doing it to curry favor with Pei Qingyun.

In private, he did not know how many times he had woken up from his dreams and cursed the ancestors of the two families for eighteen generations.

This shameless behavior could be called a model of its kind.

Yet he was helpless.

After Pei Qingyun arranged for personnel to be stationed at Deep Water Harbor, although the profits were split fifty-fifty between the two, it was clearly led by the Pei Clan, and his Cui Clan had instead become the assistant.

This made Cui Ruiyuan feel panicked.

Losing the leading position of Deep Water Harbor undoubtedly meant that the Cui Clan could no longer control its own economic lifeline.

But he was helpless.

When one's strength is inferior to others, one can only concede.

Three Grandmasters had all been defeated by the Wuyang Pei Clan. Even if he exhausted all his resources, it would be impossible to find outside help capable of contending with the Wuyang Pei Clan.

If the two families came to do business, as long as the Pei Clan agreed, he had no reason to drive them away.

Fortunately, Pei Qingyun did not break the agreement.

The profits generated by Deep Water Harbor each quarter were split fifty-fifty.

Especially under Pei Qingyun's promotion, the total revenue generated by Deep Water Harbor was even better than in the past.

The most obvious change was that the total revenue of Deep Water Harbor for the third quarter had already exceeded the annual average, and it was still showing an upward trend.

Although the Cui Clan had no way to get one million taels of revenue again in a year, if it continued to develop according to this trend, with the fifty-fifty split, there would still be seven hundred thousand taels of revenue in a year.

As for the reduced portion of the revenue, the Cui Clan also planned to achieve a balance of payments by reforming the Family's internal contribution system.

It was precisely because of the two quarters of revenue from Deep Water Harbor that the Pei Clan's annual revenue could soar to this point.

Once the trading market on the north side of Wuyang is built, the Pei Clan's annual revenue is very likely to reach a terrifying two million taels.

If calculated solely by money, an annual revenue of two million taels was enough to rival some poor second-rate Great Families.

Of course, in terms of comprehensive aspects, there was still a certain gap between them.

In addition to economic growth, over the past six months, the strength of the Pei Clan members had also increased significantly. Most of the clan members had increased by one small Realm.

In Pei Qingyun's view, resources were only the true path if they were converted into strength; otherwise, they were just a pile of waste paper and a pile of broken copper and iron.

The increase in the strength of the clan members had a certain impact on the total Luck, but the impact was not large enough; it only caused the total Family Luck to grow by more than three hundred points, and the available Luck only increased by a few dozen points.