After the whole family was swept away, I lay down flat

Chapter 1040: Wu Family Financial Dilemma
Haijiao now often goes to the palace to work, and has always maintained his friendship with Zhou Yijun and Wu Ke. From time to time, he will visit his friends' homes in his spare time. Therefore, he is much more informed than Jin Jiashu, who has been recuperating in the palace or at home for a long time.

He actually knew the answer to this question.

"It's all about money." He told Jin Jiashu, "Rebuilding the Wu Mansion is easy to say, but in fact it will cost a huge amount of money. His house is not like my cousin's new home and new school, or the villa you are planning to build, which is just a small house. His house has five courtyards in front and back, and two large gardens. There are many affiliated courtyards around it. It covers such a large area, has so many houses, and they are almost all abandoned. Even if he only plans to rebuild the main house, the money he needs to spend is not a small amount. Unfortunately, what he lacks most now is money."

Jin Jiashu was puzzled: "Hasn't his family's property been returned? It's been so long since the late emperor's decree was issued, so haven't those properties been returned to him yet?"

"Almost all of his family's gold and silver were burned to ashes, leaving only a few dilapidated houses. The land and property outside the capital are still there, but he hasn't shown up in more than ten years. People only think that the Wu family is dead. Looking at the fertile land left by his family, how can they not be tempted?" Hai Jiao sneered, "There are many people who covet unowned land, but some people are willing but not brave, while others... think they have a way to get it."

On the surface, the Wu family seemed to be extinct, but there were still some servants in charge of the farm and estate outside. However, they all failed to escape the subsequent liquidation by the Sun family. Some died, some escaped, and no one was left. Naturally, the Wu family's property became ownerless.

The local officials knew that the ownership of these properties was clear, and everyone knew that the Wu family was not a criminal, and their property had never been confiscated by the government. If they claimed that there was no one to inherit, it would be fine. But once it fell into the hands of private people, there was a clear deed. Once someone from the higher-ups investigated, they would have no way to explain. Therefore, they turned the Wu family's property into public property, and the government managed it and collected rent. Unfortunately, there are always some people in the world who think that they are in a high position and can occupy other people's property at will, and even local officials cannot stop them. Therefore, those fertile fields and farms were almost all divided up by the local tyrants and dignitaries.

In name, they are still public property of the local government, but in fact, they have become privately owned.

The late emperor naturally would not care about personal opinions. He only needed to make sure that the Wu family's property was still under the control of the government and issue an order to return it to the descendants of the Wu family. Those tyrants who had occupied the Wu family's property could not even produce the deed, so it was naturally impossible for them to disobey the imperial order.

However, there is no shortage of greedy people in the world. These local tyrants who occupied the Wu family's property were probably used to being arrogant, and they did not even take the will of the previous emperor seriously. In the face of repeated urgings from local officials, they turned a blind eye and categorically denied that they had ever occupied official fields. They also found someone to forge land deeds and insisted that they were the real owners of those properties. Local officials have indulged the tyrants for many years. They have the handle in their hands and dare not force them. However, they dare not disobey the imperial edict from the capital. Therefore, they can only deceive both sides. On the one hand, they persuade the tyrants to stop while they are ahead, and on the other hand, they write a letter claiming that the old fields of the Wu family have been abandoned for many years, the boundaries are unclear, and they have to be re-measured, in order to delay time.

In this way, these properties have nominally been returned to Wu Ke, but in fact he has seen nothing, and he doesn't even know when he will get the money. How can he spend money to rebuild his old house?

Jin Jiashu was stunned: "How can there be such audacious people in the world?! Aren't those local tyrants afraid of the emperor's wrath?!" Haijiao sneered: "These people have been bullying the locals for many years, and no one has ever dared to touch their tiger whiskers. Naturally, they are arrogant and think that since they have climbed up to the powerful in the capital, no one dares to mess with them. But in fact, the world has changed, and now their backers can't protect themselves, how can they care about the little minions below?!"

He told Jin Jiashu: "Although the Wu family is unable to take care of the old property, the Cheng'en Marquis's Mansion has actually been keeping an eye on the situation of these properties and has long known who actually owned them. This time, those who occupied the Wu family's property ignored the imperial edict and refused to return the property to the original owner. The Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion asked Wu Ke for a handwritten letter of authorization and sent people to the local area to deal with it. If those powerful people still refuse to give in, the people of the Cheng'en Marquis' Mansion will collect their evidence of guilt and report it to the court, so that they will have to pay the price!"

However, this takes time, so Wu Ke is still short of money and cannot afford to rebuild his former residence, so many plans have to be postponed.

Jin Jiashu sighed, "I see! I thought that he would sell the land to the teachers and me, and at least he would be able to save some money. Even if it's not enough to rebuild the main house, at least he could level the land of his former residence. But when I went to the area around Wu's house, I found that it was still a mess. Nothing had been sorted out yet! I was wondering what had delayed him, and it turned out that he was short of money."

Hai Jiao laughed and said, "How could he be willing to offer a high price to your cousin and you? I don't know how you negotiated with him, but when your cousin discussed the land purchase with him, he offered a very low price. Your cousin told him that he had no shortage of money and asked him to pay according to the market price. He agreed verbally, but in fact he still refused to take the full amount. However, even if he really took the full amount, the amount would be limited. He still had to prepare a dowry for his sister, and he was also going to get married. There were many places to spend money, and not all of it would be invested in rebuilding the old house. He hasn't taken back those properties yet, so he has to spend money frugally."

Jin Jiashu thought for a moment and said, "This is indeed a bit troublesome... But I think the Zhou family should be willing to help him, right?" As long as the Cheng'en Marquis's Mansion or the Zhenguo Duke's Mansion temporarily lend Wu Ke some money for turnover, and when Wu Ke gets his property back and has income in the future, he can repay the debt. The Wu Mansion's property was still very rich in the past, and the Zhou family didn't worry at all that Wu Ke wouldn't be able to pay it back.

Hai Jiao said, "Wu Ke was almost raised by the Zhou family, and he feels that he owes the Zhou family too much. Now that he has gotten out of trouble and has a title and property, he is just short of money temporarily. He just needs to wait patiently for a few more months. How can he have the nerve to ask the Zhou family to give him more money? Marquis Cheng'en and General Zhou Si both said they were willing to lend him money, but he declined. The wedding date of Prince Kang and his sister was set by the palace, and there is no way to postpone it. He can only use the money for this first, and would rather postpone his wedding than hold a big wedding. Others have advised him many times, but he still won't listen. After all, I am an outsider, so it is not easy for me to say much. Now Grandpa Cao is trying to persuade him."

The Zhang family had no objection for the time being, probably because the one engaged to Wu Ke was a daughter of the side branch of the second house. The head of the Zhang family was worried about his daughter's failure to be selected as the queen and her lack of marriage, and he could no longer care about the niece of the second house. Prince Kang, as a prince of the royal family and a close relative of the Wu family, did not care about the pomp and circumstance. The Empress Dowager and Empress Dowager Xu were ordering the Imperial Clan and the Ministry of Rites to jointly prepare for the wedding of Prince Kang. The Ministry of Rites and the Imperial Clan would also help prepare the dowry for Wu Qiong, the future Princess Kang, so there was no need to rely entirely on Wu Ke to spend money.

In addition, the new monarch had just issued an edict a few days ago, conferring the title of Duke Cheng'en on Duke Wu Wen'an on him on the grounds that he was the father of Queen Mother Wu, and passing it on to his grandson Wu Ke, who would become Earl Cheng'en. The title of Earl Cheng'en comes with a stipend of rice, and Wu Ke will be able to receive the stipend of rice as an Earl next spring to ease his financial difficulties. Even if it takes some time for the Wu family's assets to return to him, he will have money to use.

It all just takes time.