Kuailiang had always been calm and steady. Liu Xin had never seen him so flustered before, and his heart became tense. He asked, "Zi Rou, what's going on?"
Jushou, who was just about to go out, also stopped and looked at Kuai Liang worriedly.
Kuailiang ran all the way just now, and now he was sweating profusely, panting and saying, "Master, there is water in the North Gate."
Liu Xin was shocked. He knew very well that a large amount of wood was used in the buildings of this era, and the north gate area was the old city. The density of houses was very high. When a fire broke out, it would often be a large area.
Jushou was in charge of the Phantom Secret Spy and asked sensitively: "No, it's daytime, why would you go through the water?"
Kuailiang wiped his sweat, and said: "The specific situation is not yet clear, but the fire has spread very quickly. It is about to burn to the prefecture and animal husbandry. The local army and guards have all been dispatched, and they still cannot control the fire. The lord drew troops for reinforcements."
Liu Xin jumped up from the chair suddenly: "What! It's almost burning here!"
Kuailiang hurriedly waved his hand and said, "No, no, no, the subordinates didn't make it clear that it is about to burn to the original state and animal husbandry mansion."
Liu Xin gave him an angry look and said to Jushou, "Quickly, inform Xu Huang, and send 3,000 soldiers from the First Army to fight the fire. In broad daylight, the fire is coming strangely. You will send someone to check it again. what is the problem."
After speaking, he turned to Kuailiang and said, "Go, take me to the fire scene."
The prefecture and pastoral mansion in Kuailiang’s mouth was the original Cishi Mansion. It was originally located in the center of Xiangyang’s old city. As Xiangyang City expands eastward and southward as a whole, the location of this large house has been shifted to the northwest of the city. There used to be a large vacant lot on the northwest side of the Cishi Mansion, but due to the long-term vacancy of the Cishi Mansion and no one under control, many people took the land as their own and built houses. The building was disorganized and overcrowded, and many lanes could only be passed by one person.
The fire started here. Although Kuailiang arranged for many people to rush to fight the fire, he couldn't make it through after arriving at the Cishi Mansion. It happened to be the northwest wind blowing that day, and the fire was blowing, and I watched as the flames were about to rush to the Cishi Mansion. In the southeastern part of the Cishi Mansion, there were some gentry and squire families living in them. Kuai's conscience was anxious, so he hurriedly asked Liu Xin for help.
Liu Xin had just arrived at the governor's house, and Xu Huang had already arrived with a team of people. Although there were too many people, the road was narrow, but he couldn't use it. Even more than 30,000 horses would be of no avail. Liu Xin looked at the fire, pointed his hand at the Cishi Mansion, and said decisively: "Come on, take down all these houses quickly!"
Kuailiang hurriedly stopped him and said, "Lord, I can't help it, this is an official property."
Liu Xin waved his hand and said firmly: "Take it down!"
Xu Huang's soldiers swarmed up, and the "puzzling" demolished the house. Liu Xin said to Kuailiang, "Zi Rou, there is nothing to worry about. If the house is not demolished, it will be burnt up immediately. Besides, after the house is demolished, isn't it still an official property? Once demolished, the fire will not spread, and a large area of houses to the south will be safe."
The governor's mansion had just been demolished in half, and the fire burned over. But in this way, there was a large open space in front of the fire scene, and the manpower was already able to spread out, and the people who carried the burdens and carried the buckets suddenly rushed into the fire. At this time, it finally showed the benefits of being large and powerful, and the open flame was gradually rushed down.
Liu Xin breathed a sigh of relief and instructed Kuailiang: "Zi Rou, arrange for careful inspections to prevent a resurgence. In addition, check the disaster situation and properly settle the lives of the victims."
These were originally Kuailiang's own business, so naturally there was nothing to say.
When Liu Xin returned to the mansion, she still felt smoke coming out of her throat. Now that I think about it, she was a little scared. If it hadn't been for the new mansion, it would be unthinkable now. Liu Xin secretly rejoiced how wise her decision-making was, and wondered whether it was time to renovate the old city.
At this moment, Xiao Liu Rui hopped in from the outside, jumped into his arms and shouted: "Father, you haven't told me stories for two days."
These days, Liu Xin has to deal with government affairs while insisting on going to the academy to teach. In the evening, there are things that he doesn't understand, but he needs to ask Ma Yun for advice and make some evil remedies. It is really busy. The fire today made him even more irritable. Seeing Liu Rui pestering him to tell stories again, he couldn't help but yelled at her: "Okay, didn't you see Dad busy? I'll talk about it tomorrow!"
Now not only Liu Rui is waiting to hear his story every day, but Liu Rui is a little girl with a bunch of people behind her ass. Bian Yu, Cai Yan, Qiao'er, and Ying'er are all her loyal listeners now, even Ma Yun It seems to be listening with gusto. Every time she brought back new content from Liu Xin, a group of people would immediately surround her. At this moment, the little girl always felt like a princess, and she was already a little bit happy about it. When Liu Xin yelled at her, the little girl suddenly felt very aggrieved. She stayed there for a long time without moving, and then burst into tears with a "wow".
Liu Xin was also stunned. He slapped his head, and he couldn't get angry at the child no matter how busy he was. He couldn't hold his breath when he encountered a little incident. What can he achieve in the future? Thinking of this, Liu Xin hugged the little girl in a hurry, coaxed for a long time, and promised to tell her a story now, Liu Rui burst into laughter.
When today’s story is over, Liu Xin emphasized: “Rui Er, Dad is really busy now, and I will change it to one watch every two days in the future, okay?”
There were still tears on Liu Rui's face, but she was already smiling, tilting her head, and asked incomprehensibly: "Father, what is a two-day shift?"
Liu Xin smiled and said, "It means telling a story every two days."
Liu Rui blinked her eyes and said, "So three days one is more like telling a story every three days?"
Liu Xin squeezed her nose and said, "Well, Rui'er is really smart. However, you have to listen to Dad in the future. If you are not obedient one day, Dad will cut it off. Dad understands more, that is. I won't talk about it again."
Liu Rui said nervously: "Father, don't break the watch if you cause it, Ruier will be very good."
Liu Xin laughed and said, "If Rui'er is really good, go to my mother as soon as possible and let Dad do things well."
Liu Rui got down from his arms very obediently this time. Before leaving, she didn't forget to wave her little hand at him and said, "Goodbye, daddy."
The results of Jushou's investigation came out very quickly. There was no conspiracy in this fire. It was put up by a few children when they were playing. When a few children saw a pile of bamboos left unattended, they thought about playing with firecrackers, which caused a fire. Liu Xin was speechless. At this time, the firecrackers were not like a lot of gunpowder added in later generations. They were literal bamboos, which could also cause a fire, which really made him a little bit dumbfounded.
The task of rebuilding the old city was quickly assigned to Kuailiang, who was the prefect of Xiangyang and he was naturally duty-bound. However, Liu Xin still made clear demands on how to do it. A piece of land was set aside in the southwest corner of the new city, and a batch of masonry houses were built to house the residents who moved out of the old city. As for the gentry and squires who still live in the old city, the government provides land and builds their own houses, but the requirement is to use as many masonry materials as possible. In order to encourage people in the old city to move into the new city voluntarily, Liu Xin also promised that the government would provide appropriate subsidies.
Xiangyang New City has developed rapidly. Since the beginning of the spring, neat street trees have been planted on both sides of the avenue. The street trees selected for each avenue have their own characteristics, such as laurel trees, green sandalwood trees, and plane trees. The middle of the avenue is paved with bluestone, solid and durable, and suitable for vehicles. The trails on both sides for passers-by are built with special blue bricks, which are inverted trapezoids with a wide top and a narrow bottom, and have strong water absorption. There are drainage culverts on the side of the blue brick, all of which lead to the water gate in the northeast of Xiangyang City. Except for the location of the Xiangyang Academy and other three academies, and the area where Jingzhou officials live together, a row of shops has been built on both sides of the avenue in other areas. The new urban area also organized a special cleaning team to ensure the cleanliness of the urban environment.
After Liu Xin implemented the policy of halving commercial taxes, although it did not last long, the effect was very obvious. The halving of business tax reveals a signal that Liu Xin pays more attention to the development of business, and the gentry family can rest assured to increase investment in business. At the same time, with the reduction of business tax, the cost of doing business has also fallen further, and the price of goods has also fallen, which in turn has promoted the purchase of people. For the common people, some commodities that were previously available for purchase but not available for purchase can now be bought.
The development of commerce will inevitably bring about a large amount of demand for shops. The first batch of publicly developed and sold shops in the government were all sold out before the Spring Festival. Many merchants are holding money and waiting for the second batch of shops to be sold.
In fact, Liu Xin's original idea of expanding Xiangyang City was to make money. The city has been expanded, and the land that originally belonged to the outskirts of the city has now been transformed into urban land. The value of the land has naturally risen sharply, which can bring him a lot of wealth out of thin air. However, the actual development is not as he expected. The sales of shops are very prosperous, but it has not driven the hot sale of land in the new city at the same time. So far, there are very few people who have expressed the purchase of the land used to build houses. Not much.
Liu Xin looked at the report in front of him and was puzzled. The report was just sent by Kuailiang, and it is a summary of the development of the Xiangyang New Town in February. Due to the use of Xiangzhi, according to Liu Xin's suggestion, this type of report has adopted a very modern table style, which looks clear at a glance, and has now been extended to the five counties of Jingxiang, such as Xiangyang.
Liu Xin put the report aside, closed his eyes and thought for a moment, and said, "Zi Rou, how is the business of the shops that have already been sold?"