After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times-Chapter 652 - 646: Buying Property

Zhao Hu turned to look at Zhao Cheng, then glanced at his grandson, finally holding back his flushed face, thinking: No, he cannot leave them too much cash, he must invest in property, otherwise they’ll surely squander it like Zhao Hanzhang in the future.

Hmm, Luoyang has a unique position, it should also be part of the plan. If the Luoyang properties can be preserved, it would be best, then he can leave something behind for his great-grandson.

This father and son know how to give cash, but they won’t sell off ancestral property. In the future, he plans to categorize all these properties as ancestral estates and leave instructions that descendants are not permitted to sell such properties.

As long as there are properties, they won’t starve.

Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t understand how Zhao Hu suddenly came to this realization. After the banquet, the next day he exchanged old money with her and then took the new money to stroll and shop for shops and houses throughout the streets.

Nowadays, with few people in Luoyang, the once large city that housed nearly a million people now holds only tens of thousands. That’s right, after months of refugees returning, the population of Luoyang has now exceeded a hundred thousand.

But it’s still not enough.

Therefore, many shops and residences in the city remain empty.

Zhao Hanzhang kept some of these properties for herself, such as those that Zhao Changyu and Zhao Zhongyu left behind, because these were their family properties and naturally shouldn’t be touched;

Those that could be reclaimed for public usage were divided into several levels: the first level was for Zhao Hanzhang to keep on hand for unforeseen needs; the second level was to reward people and gather talent; the third and fourth levels were for buying and selling.

It’s just that they’re aimed at different groups of people.

The brokers took Zhao Hu to see the third level.

This level of houses mixed with the second level, some very spacious, some moderately spacious, and some generally or slightly cramped types, with all kinds available.

Moreover, Zhao Hu didn’t just choose the spacious ones; he only planned to buy one courtyard in Luoyang for personal residence, while keeping the rest on hand, waiting to sell them when Luoyang flourishes again.

Zhao Hanzhang was right, housing prices in Luoyang now are really like cabbages.

Besides the listings posted by the government in the brokerages, there were also many private listings.

For Luoyang residents who returned, those who originally had houses in the city and could produce house deeds, the ones that had been collected by public authorities would be returned to them; 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

If they couldn’t produce land deeds, it wouldn’t matter, as long as the household registration existed, it would still count as theirs. If even the government records couldn’t be found, they would have to rely on previous village chiefs and neighbors to testify, if they could locate these people...

Some families short on money would sell off extra houses, or simply sell their own houses and rent one from the government instead.

Currently, rental prices for government houses are also quite low, even Zhao Hu felt tempted, wishing he could rent a hundred of them, tidy them up a bit, and then rent them out for a higher price.

Unfortunately, the government has too many regulations, and now with few people in Luoyang, he couldn’t sublet them out.

Zhao Hu expressed some regret, then selected two two-courtyards and one three-courtyard, spending more than half of the money he had on hand.

After two days of wandering, coinciding with the millet harvest in Luoyang, the townsfolk headed to the fields at dawn every day, making the already sparsely populated streets even more deserted.

His attendant felt disheartened and couldn’t help but ask, "Master, is buying shops here really profitable?"

The entire street was empty, with only a few people around.

Zhao Hu remained silent and went to the fields to watch people harvest millet.

This year, they missed the farming season, so there was no wheat around Luoyang, only millet and beans. The beans had been harvested not long ago, and now only millet was left.

The people had planted quite a lot, creating a sea of golden yellow. Scattered in the fields, they didn’t appear to be many, yet they were working with great zeal, carting or carrying the cut millet to their homes. Everyone Zhao Hu observed had smiles on their faces.

No matter how tired they were, the joy couldn’t be contained in their hearts.

Zhao Hu learned after asking that Zhao Hanzhang had just ordered that this year in Luoyang, adult men needed only to pay rent on two acres, adult women one acre, young men also one acre, and young women were exempt from rent.

All households were exempted from the poll tax.

Zhao Hu’s heart skipped a beat hearing this, he muttered all the way back to the city, "This is too extravagant, too extravagant, only eight liters of grain per acre, what’s the point, in Xiping we still require fifty acres per man, why is Luoyang’s relief so minimal?"

His attendant also felt that the Luoyang people were getting a great deal, but corrected Zhao Hu, "Master, this year Xiping’s land rent is also halved, ordinary adult men need to pay for only twenty-five acres, and our family, with its vast lands, is also taxed at half rate."

Nowadays, everywhere, there were more lands than people, and Xiping had been committed to gathering refugees and distributing lands for cultivation.

Before, Zhao Hanzhang was unable to implement new policies in time, and changing policies required substantial manpower and resources, and making the populace familiar with the changes also took time and labor, so she could only follow the imperial mandates, making modifications within those regulations.

For example, the imperial court mandated that adult men were required to pay land rent based on fifty acres annually, regardless of whether they personally had fifty acres or cultivated that amount, they were taxed according to this standard every year.

Thus, to attract refugees, Zhao Hanzhang would assign land based on local land and population conditions, then reduce and exempt their taxes, possibly collecting only half, or even one-third or one-fourth of the rent.

Moreover, due to severe population loss and land abandonment over these two years, no mulberry cultivation and scarce hemp planting, she would generally exempt them from textile tribute, so they didn’t have to pay silk cloth.

This year in Luoyang, it was the same.

However, because Luoyang suffered particularly, by the time she took over, it was almost like an empty city, so the rent tax was exceptionally generous, with many households being entirely exempt, and those who paid were charged minimal portions.

This tempted Zhao Hu, leading him to find Zhao Kuan, "I want to buy some land in Luoyang."

Yet Zhao Kuan refused him, "Seventh Ancestor, the governor has ordered that unless you’re a resident of Luoyang, you can’t buy land here."

Zhao Hu stared, "Why?"

Zhao Kuan paused and then said, "Because she is the governor?"

Zhao Hu was left speechless.

After thinking it over, unwilling to give up his Xiping registration, he offered, "Then I’ll transfer Zhao Zheng’s registration here, you can settle him, and I’ll buy the land in his name."

Zhao Kuan stated, "Before the regulation is lifted, a single household cannot privately buy more than ten acres of arable land."

A bit too little, Zhao Hu frowned and asked, "Why is she doing this prohibition? She makes money, I buy land, it’s a great deal for both."

Zhao Kuan said, "As people return to Luoyang, the number will surely increase, so we need to leave enough land for those coming back later. It’s crucial to control the large-scale land acquisition by wealthy families now, to prevent imbalances."

He looked up and smiled at Zhao Hu, "This measure is precisely to prevent people like you, Seventh Ancestor."

Zhao Hu: "..."