Chapter 11: Lonely Souls and Dragging Others to the Grave
Xu Da watched Li Fan flirting with his daughter, feeling the need to remind him sternly. He couldn’t afford to provoke the emperor’s limits, especially an emperor like Zhu Yuanzhang. When angered, he was capable of anything, and mishandling this situation could lead to execution. With some concern, Xu Da said, “Can you please stop doing these nerve-wracking things in the future? The current emperor is decisive and ruthless, not someone to mess with!”
Li Fan naturally understood the terror of Zhu Yuanzhang. Once he truly angered him, he could indeed order his execution. However, wasn’t the purpose of pushing boundaries to break them? He smiled at Xu Da and said, “Wei Duke, you don’t need to worry. If the emperor finds out I’ve given him twelve million taels of silver, he’ll be ecstatic!”
Feeling like he was being deceived by Li Fan, Xu Da felt he had been dragged into this mess, along with his daughter. He cleared his throat and said directly, “After this matter is over, I’ll arrange for you two to get married. It’s unseemly to be so lovey-dovey all the time!”
Upon hearing the word “married,” Xu Miaoyun’s face instantly flushed. Although she had always been laid-back, the thought of marriage made her feel embarrassed. She quickly got up and ran off.
Seeing the beauty leaving, Li Fan turned to Xu Da and said, “If you have time, go check out the imperial tomb. When auctioning off the imperial city, include the nearby cemetery. There are a total of twenty thousand burial plots, categorized by distance. The closer ones will be auctioned, while the farther ones will be sold for five thousand each!”
Xu Da suddenly felt an itch in his head. Removing his hat, he scratched vigorously. How did he get so rash as to agree to cooperate with Li Fan to sell cemeteries, especially those around the imperial tomb? It was challenging the emperor’s bottom line. He expressed his concern, “Selling the imperial tomb so blatantly, won’t there be problems?”
Li Fan took a grape the size of an egg and bit into it fiercely. Xinjiang grapes were sweet. Seeing Xu Da’s worried expression, he reassured him, “What’s the purpose of building the imperial tomb?”
“To bury His Majesty’s grandfather, father, elder brother, and sister-in-law!” Xu Da replied without hesitation.
Li Fan patted Xu Da’s shoulder and smiled as he said, “Let’s tell His Majesty this: the area around the imperial tomb is empty, with only four people buried there. Isn’t it desolate, like ghosts and wild souls? Now, if we sell twenty thousand burial plots, won’t there be forty thousand people buried here? Wouldn’t that make it livelier?”
Hearing Li Fan’s explanation, Xu Da was dumbfounded, unable to believe his ears. He couldn’t believe that Li Fan could come up with such shameless reasoning. It was downright outrageous. However, perhaps His Majesty would buy into it. Still, Xu Da had one concern. He asked, “The people of Ming Dynasty believe in ‘returning to one’s roots.’ With so many individual burial plots, won’t they be skeptical? They’re not part of a system!”
Li Fan chuckled. Although Xu Da had some ability, his perspective was limited, especially regarding the common people.
Without further ado, Li Fan spoke directly:
“This is the royal mausoleum, with an excellent Feng Shui location. The imperial family holds ceremonies here throughout the year. Burial in such a good place might bring blessings to future generations. Moreover, with enough money, a family can purchase a large area of cemetery, creating their own family tomb. Isn’t that perfect?”
Oh!
Xu Da felt his head swell, as if he wanted to explode his brain. He really wanted to know what was going on in Li Fan’s head, but it didn’t matter now. What mattered was what the emperor thought. With some concern, he said:
“Your theory might not fool the emperor. If he gets angry, the consequences could be disastrous!”
Li Fan grinned, appearing confident. He chuckled and said:
“With twenty thousand graves, even the worst ones will sell for ten thousand silver each. That’s two hundred million silver in total. Even though it might take a dozen years to sell them all, it’s still a lot of silver. If worse comes to worst, we can just give the emperor a share and be done with it!”
Xu Da furrowed his brows and shook his head. From how the emperor dealt with the matter of the imperial city, a few million silver definitely wouldn’t satisfy him. He stated:
“A few million definitely won’t satisfy the emperor. We’ll have to offer at least half!”
Li Fan had long thought of a strategy. If the emperor demanded too much, he couldn’t just give him the money directly; that would be a loss for him. He replied:
“Then we’ll give the emperor half of the graves and let him sell them himself. How much he can sell will be up to him!”
Xu Da sighed. This was the best they could do. Giving the money directly wouldn’t work. It seemed like a lot of profit, but there would be a lot of losses too.
“We’ll discuss this with the emperor once he’s aware. I’ll go check on the mausoleum first, urge them to build some standard graves. Otherwise, those merchants might not understand.”
Li Fan reclined in his rocking chair, content. He waved Xu Da away dismissively.
Seeing Li Fan’s lazy demeanor, Xu Da worriedly suggested:
“As the county magistrate, you should at least appear like an official. It wouldn’t hurt to go out and inspect once in a while!”
Li Fan, however, was indifferent. Why bother patrolling when there were constables and a deputy county magistrate?
“If I have to personally handle everything, won’t I be worn out? Let the constables patrol the streets, and the deputy county magistrate manage the office. Why should I bother?”
Xu Da understood that Fengyang was well-managed even without Li Fan’s intervention. But with the emperor coming, it wouldn’t hurt to leave a good impression. He suggested:
“Why don’t you take a trip to the countryside? It’s almost autumn harvest. Checking on the fields would be beneficial!”
Li Fan suddenly sat up, excited:
“I’ll take Miàoyún to Longzi Lake to cool off!”
Xu Da sighed. He’d better go check on the mausoleum. His life was full of toil.
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