Tang Dynasty Xie Lu Lang

Chapter 370 The Southern City is Full of Powerful Clans

Zhang Dai listened to the conversation between his grandfather and his uncle and was deeply moved. "Is this really my powerful grandfather and district chief uncle?"
Having such personnel support was naturally a great advantage for him. He wanted to build a tea plantation, but first he needed land and people. Land could perhaps be acquired through personal connections or by offering high prices, but the issue of people was much more difficult to resolve.

While there were many vagrants and fugitives in and around Chang'an, if a private individual were to try to recruit and gather them, it would be difficult to gain their trust. If the number of people reached a certain level, it would inevitably attract the attention of the public, government intervention, and even impeachment by censors, which would go directly to the imperial court.

However, if Zheng Yan could take up the post of magistrate of Wannian County and assist in overall coordination in the name of the Wannian County government, things would undoubtedly go much more smoothly.

This also shows that most of the children of officials are indeed mediocre. Their connections can provide them with so much help that they can even make a pig look like a human being. In the end, very few of them can achieve anything extraordinary.

Without the support of these connections, they would probably all end up as useless, starving wives and living in squalid homes.

Zhang Dai was inwardly mocking others, while also reminding himself that if he was going to do something, he had to achieve something.

He has only just put forward an idea, yet he has already received so much praise and help from his family and friends. It would be really unreasonable if he couldn't make a name for himself.

Now that Zhang Shuo has been appointed as the examiner again, he can no longer live a lazy life as before. He will return to the province tomorrow morning to review the relevant rosters and information. Therefore, he did not stay up too late today. He had a little dinner with Zhang Dai and others and went to bed early.

"Sixth Brother, tell me more about the matters. If there is any shortage of money, don't be polite with your uncle!"

Zheng Yan was about to complete his term of office and was given a new career plan by his father-in-law. He was very excited and pulled Zhang Dai aside after dinner to ask him about it in detail. He also generously offered to provide some financial support.

"There is no shortage of money. Besides, in the future, when my uncle governs this area, if there are too many conflicts of interest, it will inevitably attract criticism. This is a plan that benefits the country and the people, so there is no need to leave any flaws."

Zhang Dai knew that his uncle was also very wealthy, and it would be no problem for him to take out tens of thousands of strings of cash.

However, he has already secured a total investment of 50,000 guan, although only 20,000 guan from Pei Zhen has been actually secured, while the rest still requires some procedural conversion.

Zhang Dai said he was going to guarantee loans for Li Xia and others at the money exchange, but in reality he planned to pay for them himself. Going through the money exchange was meant to instill a sense of responsibility and urgency in these young men, making them treat this as a serious matter and not just a passing fad.

In this way, he can collect interest and also use a small whip to drive them to do their jobs properly. Isn't that great?

In short, the current funding is sufficient, and the next step is to gradually implement the relevant matters.

The first thing is to determine the location of the tea garden. Tea trees usually need sufficient sunlight and heat, as well as a good drainage environment. Therefore, good tea is generally easier to grow in sunny hilly areas.

Strictly speaking, the soil and climate of the Guanzhong region are not the best places to grow tea trees. On the contrary, the Hanzhong region, which faces south of the Qinling Mountains and is sunny, is more suitable.

However, this is not absolute. If you look carefully, you can find some suitable places to grow tea near Chang'an.

Pei Dunfu had told Zhang Dai that the famous Caotang Temple near Chang'an had a tea garden. The tea produced there was not only enough for the monks to use, but was also given as gifts to believers who worshipped the Buddha. The tea from Caotang Temple was quite famous in Chang'an.

Zhang Dai wasn't aiming for the high-end route of small-can master teas. High-end tea production and processing could be done in production areas with more suitable climates. What Guanzhong needed to do was large-scale planting of mid-to-low-end teas, and to utilize foreign trade channels.

Even if you sell high-end tea to the Turks, who are full of the smell of fish and mutton, they won't understand it. On the contrary, it's much more cost-effective to exchange a small foal for a few large bricks of tea, which a family can drink for months, nourishing their stomach and intestines and clearing away heat and ulcers.

Tea is not a novelty in Guanzhong, but its use is mainly concentrated in religious circles such as monks and Taoists, and its presence in the daily lives of the general public is relatively low.

After all, the current tea-making techniques are far too cumbersome. Ordinary people don't even have the habit of boiling water for drinking, let alone wasting fuel and seasonings to brew tea. Even if they do drink tea, it's mostly for medicinal purposes.

Currently, tea is not a hot-selling commodity that is frequently transported and sold in large quantities across regions. The tea consumed by the temples and monasteries in Guanzhong is mostly for their own use. Therefore, as long as this clue is grasped, it is not difficult to find and select places suitable for large-scale tea cultivation.

Pei Dunfu then provided Zhang Dai with several areas: the public and private gardens around Jiucheng Palace to the west of Chang'an, the area around Lishan Hot Spring to the east, and the hilly area south of the city, including Weiqu and Duling, extending to the northern foothills of Zhongnan Mountain. Zhang Dai planned to take advantage of the leisure time around the Shangsi Festival to visit these areas, finalize the location of the tea garden, and then begin construction.

After acquiring the tea plantation, he was able to select a group of strong soldiers from the Bianzhou fleet to settle there. They would work or train in the tea plantation on weekdays and take turns entering the city to serve as his personal guards.

A tea plantation needs to cover at least tens or hundreds of hectares of working area. It's perfectly reasonable to have a hundred or so strong men working as tea artisans there, and it won't be too conspicuous. As the number of tea plantations increases and their scale expands in the future, the number of personnel required will naturally also increase.

Even if the staff cannot be entirely brought in from Northeast China, but are recruited locally in Guanzhong, as long as the tea plantations can provide them with sufficient income and a comfortable life, they will naturally have the motivation to protect their current lives from disruption.

However, even though Zhang Dai had made all the necessary ideological and personnel preparations, when he actually started to organize the event, he realized that he had underestimated the difficulty of acquiring large properties around the capital.

"Zhang Liu, Zhang Liu! Are you up yet? Didn't we agree to go out to the south of the city to select a garden site today? If you don't get up soon, I'm afraid we won't be able to get back to the city on time tonight!"

Early in the morning, as Zhang Dai finished washing up and was having breakfast, Li Xia and Dou E noisily entered the Zhang family mansion. Seeing him still eating slowly and methodically in the dining hall, they immediately urged him to hurry up.

Zhang Dai was very satisfied with their enthusiastic and proactive attitude. He quickly finished his breakfast, then took a dozen or so followers and left home to ride south.

Chang'an City is very large, but the wards in the south are relatively deserted. Only the wards on both sides of Zhuque Gate Street and near a few city gates in the south have a relatively large number of residents. Other more remote wards are quite desolate.

As they left the city from Xiamen in the east, they saw many people working outside the city, harvesting weeds and leveling the ground. They were not farming near the city, but preparing for the upcoming Shangsi Festival.

Among them were servants of various powerful families in the capital, who came in advance to prepare the venue and set up tents on the day of the festival for their masters to rest and watch the performances. Zhang Dai's uncle, Zhang Yang, had been busy near Qujiang Pool during this period, and had boasted several times that he had rented a large area there to set up tents so that the whole family could enjoy the performances.

Normally, people like Li Xia and Dou E would have been fierce soldiers among them, but now they have something more meaningful to do and no longer bother with those theatrical tricks.

"See the hills ahead? This ridge is barren, covered with weeds and tangled branches. In the past, the Yu River flowed around it, and some hillside fields could still be cultivated. In recent years, the waterway was dug and diverted to Fanchuan, and this place has been abandoned!"

Dou E had done his research thoroughly. Not long after leaving the city to the south, he pointed to a north-south ridge and said to Zhang Dai, "Zhang Liu, you said you wanted to build a tea garden south of the city, and this place immediately came to mind. It's about ten miles from the city, making it convenient to travel and explore. There are also several springs north of the ridge. While planting millet and rice here is not feasible, planting tea trees seems quite suitable..."

Zhang Dai walked around the slope and found that there were many low shrubs growing on it, and some villagers were also working on the slope. The slope of the hill was quite steep, and there were still gullies carved out by the water. Overall, the terrain was not bad.

Seeing that Zhang Dai was looking at him very carefully, Dou E quickly said, "I also asked around yesterday. This area north of the ridge is a garden of the Duan family of Changshan. Their family has lost its power and status for two generations. They also have a favor to do for them. Therefore, Lady Duan in the Prince Hui's Mansion is a woman from their family, and she is now living in the inner garden."

"But this isn't a troublesome matter. Since we have the money to buy the land, as long as the price is fair, that's fine. Zhang Liu, what do you think of this plot of land? If it's suitable, I'll go to the Duan family tomorrow to discuss buying it."

"The location is good, and if the price is right, we can take it!"

Zhang Dai, adhering to the principle of casting a wide net to catch more fish, would buy up suitable places as soon as he saw them, even if they were not suitable for planting tea trees, they could be used for other purposes.

They continued south along the slope for several miles, and suddenly a manor nestled in a valley came into view. The manor's buildings were well-arranged and each had its own style, which was pleasing to the eye. Zhang Dai couldn't help but ask, "Is this manor also owned by the Duan family? If they are willing to sell, we can buy it as well, and then the villagers can live here and work nearby."

"This is not the place. This is the Wei Family Leisure Park. It is said that his son, Wei Heng, was the Left Assistant Minister of the Southern Province. From here, for several miles to the north and south, all of this is the Wei Family Garden."

Dou E had done his homework thoroughly, and immediately answered the question upon hearing it.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Dai immediately frowned: "The Carefree Duke? Wei Sili? Isn't this Wei Heng the cousin of Yuwen Rong, the Minister of Revenue?"

(End of this chapter)