This son-in-law is wicked in a good way!

The inner hall was quiet for a while.

It seems like they are making a choice.

One minute later, the Empress's majestic voice rang out.

"Since you're so confident, then I'll take the gamble with you."

"Besides money, I will give you my full support. You can go ahead and do it."

Mo Yu, standing beside him, looked anxious and whispered, "Your Majesty, this is just wishful thinking on his part. Those court officials aren't stupid; why would they buy his house!"

The Empress looked up and chuckled, "But even if he fails, what loss would it be for me?"

"Ah, this..." Mo Yu was speechless. At most, it would just be a waste of a piece of land.

There is plenty of land in the capital, so there is no fear of wasting it.

In the outer hall, Zhang Ping'an was overjoyed: "This humble servant thanks Your Majesty!"

"But Your Majesty, how do you plan to distribute these profits?"

"After all, even a small person needs to invest a lot of money in the early stages."

The Empress scoffed. This guy, before anything's even started, he's already thinking about dividing the silver.

"Then how do you suggest we allocate it?"

Zhang Ping'an dared not ask for an exorbitant amount: "This land belongs to Your Majesty, so Your Majesty should naturally take the lion's share. I only need 30% of the profit."

Zhang Ping'an just did a rough calculation and found that, after deducting costs and labor, he could probably make a net profit of about 20%.

That area could probably support three hundred houses. If each house was worth ten thousand taels of silver, a 20% profit would amount to several hundred thousand taels of silver.

The Empress nodded, a satisfied smile appearing on her lips: "At least you still have some conscience, knowing to give me the lion's share."

In her heart, she just wanted Zhang Ping'an to give her half of it.

"I grant your permission."

Zhang Ping'an could barely contain his smile. He thought the Empress would try to lower the price, but he didn't expect her to be so agreeable.

"Your Majesty is so magnanimous!"

"However, could Your Majesty grant me an imperial decree? After all, building a house involves many aspects and requires coordination from various government departments."

Zhang Ping'an was well aware of the dangers of extortion and bribery, and knew he had to deal with these issues in advance.

"Go and do it. I will have someone draft an imperial edict and send it to the Night Watch's office shortly."

"Thank you, Your Majesty. I'll take my leave now!" Zhang Ping'an left happily.

Upon returning to the Night Watchman's office, Wang Qisheng rushed up to him as soon as he saw him, hugging his shoulders and looking him up and down.

"That's great! You actually came back alive!"

"I told you nothing would happen!" Zhang Ping'an said with a smile.

"Oh, by the way, you and Lao Zhou are coming with me to do something later." Zhang Ping'an raised an eyebrow: "There's a reward!"

Old Wang immediately beamed with joy: "Ping An, you really are my brother."

The Empress's decree arrived even faster than Zhang Ping'an had imagined; almost as soon as he returned, the eunuch from the Directorate of Ceremonial arrived to deliver the decree.

In Qingshan Hall, everyone knelt on the ground.

Li De Kui, the fifth-rank chief eunuch serving the Empress, stood at the main gate and read out the imperial edict.

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Zhang Ping'an, the Night Watchman, is hereby ordered to carry out his duties and may act as he sees fit. No one may obstruct him."

"Lord Zhang, please accept the imperial decree!"

"Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty!" Zhang Ping'an raised his hands above his head to receive the imperial edict.

In his heart, he was thinking that the empress was too stingy. She didn't even appoint him as an imperial envoy or anything, and just gave him a broken imperial edict to make it easier for him to do his job.

Moreover, the imperial edict was ambiguous and extremely perfunctory, as if it were afraid of not being able to shift the blame if something went wrong.

But that's fine too. Since there's no specific position, we can just do whatever we want, hehe!

"Lord Zhang, you must perform your duties well and not disappoint His Majesty's high expectations!"

Li Dekui, in a high-pitched voice, earnestly gave his instructions.

"Rest assured, sir, I would do anything, even risk my life!" Zhang Ping'an escorted Steward Li to the entrance of the yamen.

"Lord Zhang, please wait. I'll head back to report now."

Li Dehui poked his head out of the carriage and said a few polite words.

"Take care, Father-in-law!"

After seeing Li De Kui off, Zhang Ping'an was immediately surrounded as soon as he returned to Qingshan Hall.

Wang Qisheng asked in shock, "Ping An, His Majesty really agreed to let you resettle those disaster victims?"

"This job is going to be tough!"

The others nodded in agreement.

"At least 30,000 disaster victims have entered the capital in the past few days. We are just lowly night watchmen, with little influence. Even with His Majesty's decree, it is difficult to solve the problem of so many disaster victims."

"Moreover, I heard that even His Majesty is helpless in this matter."

Zhang Ping'an smiled, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Thank you all for your concern. I know what I'm doing."

"Brother Wang, Brother Zhou, how about we go out together?"

Zhang Pingan looked at Wang Qisheng and Zhou Weidong.

The two lowered their heads in silence, then raised their heads, their faces resolute.

"it is good."

Zhang Ping'an had his eye on a plot of land in the eastern part of Zhuque Street.

This location is roughly on the edge of the Second Ring Road, not far from the Imperial City, but not close to the bustling downtown area.

In later generations, this location would undoubtedly be considered a prime piece of real estate.

It is suitable for both residential and commercial real estate development.

Zhang Ping'an wants to develop this area into a model commercial and residential complex.

It's easy to imagine that once completed, property prices here will skyrocket.

However, although not many people live in this area, there are still quite a few people.

The first problem Zhang Ping'an is facing now is the demolition and relocation.

Fortunately, in the eyes of people in this world, this area is considered the outskirts, and most of the people living here don't have any special background.

Zhang Ping'an and his two companions visited each household separately, promising that after the houses were built, each family would receive one, and each household would receive a one-time compensation of fifty taels of silver.

The rent in this area is about ten taels of silver per year, so Zhang Ping'an is essentially compensating them for five years' rent.

Once these residents saw that he was the night watchman, they would have been willing to move out even if they weren't paid!

Therefore, the most difficult part, the demolition and relocation, is progressing very smoothly.

Zhang Ping'an signed the documents with the residents on the spot, distributed the money, and gave them three days to move out.

The people, who initially didn't believe the government would actually give them money, were all overjoyed and cooperated enthusiastically after seeing the money.

After dozens of households had signed, Zhang Ping'an returned to the yamen after his shift had ended. Since he still needed to practice his martial arts, he simply rested at the yamen.

Of course, after causing such a scene at the Left Chancellor's 60th birthday celebration, he didn't dare go back at all.

The next morning, Zhang Ping'an arrived at the place he had arranged to meet the mother and daughter, and saw them again.

After giving them a few steamed buns, Zhang Ping'an asked, "Big sister, when you get back, could you ask around and see if anyone is willing to work?"

"Ten coins a day, meals included."

The woman immediately became excited: "Sir, do you think I can do it?"

"sure."

"Thank you, sir, thank you, sir..." The woman's face was full of gratitude. If it weren't for the fact that Zhang Ping'an was too young and she was already over thirty, and a used woman, she would have thought that Zhang Ping'an was so nice to her because he wanted her body.

Zhang Pingan quickly helped her up.

"Big sister, you can go back and ask now. If someone is willing to come, I'll wait here."

The woman asked, "Sir, what kind of work is it? What if someone doesn't know how?"

"It's just building a house. Anyone with some strength can do it. There are no gender restrictions, and the age should be between fifteen and sixty."

"Okay, I'll go back and ask them now."