After solving the problem of demolition, it became much easier. Just as Xian Ruxing expected, after learning that the imperial court planned to build the outer city and sell the land, many wealthy merchants were moved.
The capital is now developing better and better year by year, and with that, the houses and shops in the city are getting more and more expensive. If you can really buy some cheaply in the new city, even if you don't use it, you can definitely make a profit by renting it out even if you don't use it.
Buy and sell. However, when they asked about the price, they were a little shocked. No one expected that although the location in the outer city was much cheaper than in the city, it was still far higher than everyone expected.
What is the difference between this and stealing money!?
Faced with the angry merchants, Wang Qiong, who was in charge of the matter, looked calm but in fact he had no idea, so he went to Xian Ruxing privately to discuss: "Do you think our pricing is not good? What if?
If you join forces and don’t buy it, it’s not blind. When the time comes, the higher-ups will blame you..."
"Wang Shangshu, even if a poor Taoist wants to take all the responsibility for such a big matter, the court will definitely not agree."
He cursed the old fox secretly and started practicing Tai Chi with a smile.
Seeing that Xian Ruxing didn't take the bait, Wang Qiong smiled and said: "Of course, of course, you see, I didn't say anything. The main thing is that there are so many pairs of eyes watching eagerly. If we don't do it well, we will all be disgraced, right?"
Xian Ruxing shook his head, "At this price, you can't miss one. We are mainly opening shops in the south and east. We are all looking at the return money. It is already the lowest. No matter how low it is, we will not be able to collect the project funds."
Qi, when the time comes, you will have to ask the court for money, which will be much harder than getting it from the people."
"Well, you can tell the merchants first that some of the money here will be used to build roads. By then, the road in front of their door will be similar to a stone road, spotless and smooth. Someone with a little cleverness will naturally be able to react.
.”
"What's the reaction?" Wang Qiong wondered.
Xian Ruxing explained: "For those in the outer city, the competitors are not the heads of households around them, but the shops in the inner city. If there is a good environment, it is not impossible that the inner and outer business districts will eventually turn upside down."
Wang Qiong nodded, then realized something and said curiously: "In this case, wouldn't it be a pity to only use the east and south sides as business districts? Wouldn't it be better to sell all four sides?"
"Things are rare because they are expensive. If that's the case, it would be difficult to ask for a price. Besides, Nancheng and Dongcheng Guanxiang are already densely populated places, and people are accustomed to leaving the city through those two gates." Xian Ruxing shook his head, "Besides, the rest also has other uses.
, you are like the west side. According to the initial city construction, in addition to resettling people who have moved from other areas, you also plan to build more apartments for talents, uh, that is, gallery houses."
At this time, "Langfang" roughly means modern public rental housing. Public rental housing originated in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, land in Luoyang, Chang'an was very expensive, so the imperial court funded a dedicated area for rent. The most prosperous time was the Song Dynasty. After all,
At that time, housing prices in Bianliang were not very expensive. For example, Su Che, the younger brother of the great writer Su Shi, had a prosperous official career, but in the end he did not settle in the capital. Before his death, he bought a house in the second-tier city of Xuzhou and wrote poems in excitement.
Said: "I have never had three houses in my life, but at the beginning of this year I have hundreds of corridors."
In the early days of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the household registration system was particularly strict, so except for the Jiangnan area, other areas were not as abnormal as the Song Dynasty. However, with the increasing prosperity of the commodity economy, it has become more and more serious recently. The Langfang in the capital was first established by Zhu Di
, it was divided into three levels: large, medium and small. Even a small house could be rented by a peddler.
However, although there are public rental housing, there is no reasonable public rental housing system like the Song Dynasty. The imperial court's management of Langfang is very rough. There is neither a specialized agency responsible for management nor relevant laws. Even the rent collection is done randomly from the Langfang.
One, designated as "Langtou", is their responsibility. Over time, places like Langfang will inevitably be missed by the powerful, so it becomes more and more difficult to collect rent. There was even a corridor head who was afraid that he would not be able to act like the court because he could not collect rent.
He confessed, paying for the rent out of his own pocket, and in the end, his family was ruined and everyone died.
So after inspecting everything, Xian Ruxing planned to knock down some Langfang houses in the city, move the people to the outer city in the west, and then manage them exclusively by the court. In this way, the annual rent would be a considerable income.
"Then what are you going to do with the rest of the city after knocking down the gallery? Are you going to continue selling land?" Wang Qiong continued to ask, unconsciously attracted by the blueprint drawn by the female Taoist priest.
"Don't do anything, just plant more flowers, plants and trees." Xian Ruxing sighed. Although there were many skilled craftsmen at this time, urban construction had not yet formed a specialized knowledge. When the city of Beijing was designed, there were many
Hidden dangers, such as building public rental housing, are built directly next to ditches in order to save money. As a result, a large amount of domestic waste is dumped into ditches every day. This is a large part of the reason for the accumulation of water in the city. If you drive people away now, even if you don't care about it later,
It can relieve a lot.
As for the final north, after discussing with Yang Yiqing, who has many years of military experience, Xian Ruxing planned to move some military yamen in the capital there. Firstly, it would be closest to the palace, so that if something happened, he could be dispatched in time. Secondly, whether it was Manchus or Mongols,
If you want to attack Beijing, you have to come from the north, so you can better defend the capital.
In addition, Xian Ruxing also wants to build a park, a square, and a theater here to enrich the people's spiritual world.
All of the above are either unprofitable or the funds are slowly withdrawn, so the money from land sales is crucial.
After hearing this, Wang Qiong also understood this truth, put away his previous carelessness, and said seriously: "I didn't expect that there is so much knowledge in building this small city. I think you must have worked hard to plan these things, don't worry.
If everyone in the imperial court is like you, then there is no need to worry that our Ming Dynasty will not be safe forever. Don't worry, it is mine, and I will try my best."
"Leave it to Wang Shangshu," Xian Ruxing solemnly thanked him.
It has to be said that although Wang Qiong is naughty and power-loving, her abilities are still very outstanding. In just a few months, she has almost done everything.
At the same time, the results of the general examination also came out.
Because Zhang Cong intends to rectify his writing style this time, the questions asked by Shang Linfeng are very to the point, and the final big question is more practical. In this way, people who have more own ideas or more practical questions are more likely to get high scores. Like
Xu Jie got fourth place this time, much better than he predicted.
Needless to say, the palace examination itself was mainly based on strategy. In the end, Xu Jie won the seat of the flower queen in one fell swoop. The flower girl, who was nineteen or twenty years old, was young, handsome, and had a bright future.
The wife frantically threw the flower handkerchief in her hand at him, making even the top pick and second overall pick feel a little sour.
However, Xu Jie only managed to smile at all this, looking very worried.
Finally arrived at the Luming Banquet. As the examiner in charge of the imperial examination, Xian Ruxing naturally also participated together with Zhang Cong and Shang Lin Feng.
Regarding this strange configuration, the scholars were a little uncomfortable at first. But fortunately, the number one scholar this time was more alert and immediately stood up to praise Zhang Cong and Shang Lin Feng's article, and then thanked Xian Ruxing for building the Gongyuan.
With him taking the lead, the young scholars finally realized that no matter what the outside world said, they and these three people were now one. Especially Zhang Cong and Xian Ruxing, it was obvious that Jian was in the emperor's heart and there was no harm in having more interactions with them.
Soon, everyone became more and more friendly, and at this moment, someone suddenly came over from outside and announced that Jiajing was coming.
All the Jinshi were stunned for a moment and then almost screamed with excitement.
Is this the benefit of being the first disciple of the Emperor? Your Majesty actually attaches so much importance to it!
Among the crowd, Xian Ruxing was the only one with a stiff expression. She had been deliberately avoiding Zhu Houcong since her last refusal. It had been almost three months since the two had seen each other, so they didn't expect to meet him here.
Jiajing only wore ordinary clothes and walked into the banquet accompanied by his servants.
Zhang Cong quickly led everyone to salute, and Zhu Houcong's eyes swept across the audience. He paused for a moment on a certain slender figure, and then said calmly: "Everyone, get up."
Then he praised the scholars a few words, successfully fooling a group of scholars into excitement. At this time, Zhang Cong, perhaps wanting his students to show off, suggested that everyone should give orders through poetry.
This not only shows everyone's literary qualities, but also makes the scene lively.
Zhu Houcong was worried that he had no excuse to stay here for a while. After hearing this, he quickly agreed and said that he could add color to the game, and the winner in the end could ask for a reward from him.
The rewards themselves were generous, and because they could show their faces freely in front of the emperor, the scholars worked hard, but maybe they were too nervous. In the end, one or two of them accidentally missed the prize, and the winner turned out to be less than twenty years old.
Xu Jie.
Zhu Houcong didn't look very good. In fact, when he was checking the examination papers, he once became petty and wanted to move this kid to the back row. However, he was worried that Xian Ruxing would comfort him, so in the end he could only pinch his nose and nod him.
Tanhua was looking forward to a family that would catch her son-in-law and carry him away. After asking around, he found out that because he had been punishing the clan members so hard recently, the nobles did not dare to do anything, so Xu Jie was not married yet.
, he was so angry that he was half dead. Now that he was asked to act in front of Xian Ruxing, the young emperor couldn't help but frown.
Xu Jie took a deep breath, stepped forward and saluted: "Your Majesty, I have no status, so I dare not ask for a reward, but I have something to ask for."
Xian Ruxing's heart thumped, secretly thinking that this was not good.
Jiajing raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes slightly, "Tell me."
Sure enough, Xu Jie stated Zhen Ge's matter again and hoped that the court would deal with it leniently.
The scene was silent, and everyone looked at him in shock, thinking that he was out of his mind to say this at such a time.
Zhu Houcong didn't speak for a long time after listening. After a long time, he slowly said: "Fraud in the imperial examination has always been a big deal. The imperial court has always acted like this. Why can't he do it now?"
Xu Jie retorted: "It is wrong to cheat, but now after being caught, you will be beaten twenty times, and then you will be disabled, and then you will be exiled thousands of miles away, and less than one in ten will survive in the end. With this kind of punishment, even
The corruption and dereliction of duty by officials is not even comparable. Is it really necessary to be like this? Your Majesty, you said that it has always been like this, but does what has always been true necessarily be right?"
"Bold!" Zhang Cong stood up and cursed angrily: "Ignorant juniors dare to speak nonsense!"
Zhu Houcong stopped the other party, looked at Xu Jie who was trembling slightly, and sneered: "Okay, since Tan Hua Lang talks like this, and I have promised before, then I will spare his life. Send the order, and send Zhen Ge out to be demoted. For the sake of the people, scientific examinations are not allowed for the third generation. As for Xu Tanhua, since you have objections to our regulations, you might as well go to Yingtian and feel the kindness of Taizu."
Originally, according to the normal route, Tanhua should have stayed in the Hanlin Academy for a few years, and then either stayed in Beijing or taken up important positions in local areas. Now she was directly transferred to Nanjing. The Ming Dynasty has always had the tradition of "non-Hanlin Academy members will not join the cabinet." So it is obvious. The emperor was conveying a message to everyone - Xu Jie's official career was basically over.
It was impossible for Xu Jie to say that there was no reaction at all, but he still calmly thanked him.
Just a moment ago, Tanhua, who had unlimited fame, traded her future for someone else in the blink of an eye. All the Jinshi could not help but sigh, and no one dared to speak after that.
Zhu Houcong himself was not in a good mood and left early.
However, not long after arriving at Qianqing Palace, Xian Ruxing followed.
Three months later, when he saw the female Taoist priest again, the longing in the young man's eyes almost turned into reality. He went there just to take a look at her. But thinking of what just happened, he suddenly felt jealous again. He turned his head and said, "If you are here to speak for others, then there is no need to say anything."
"Who are you speaking for?" Xian Ruxing raised his eyebrows in surprise, then realized what he was talking about and said with some humor: "Is your Majesty talking about Xu Jie? He is responsible for the path he chooses. You have been more merciful this time, poor man. Daolai wants to give you the city defense map of the new city for your review."
After all, they had met, so there was no point in being pretentious. Moreover, she saw that Zhu Houcong's behavior seemed to be no different from before, so maybe he had figured it out.
Hearing this, Zhu Houcong showed a smile and coughed twice, saying that city defense was a major matter. Even if he got the map, he would have to discuss it with the Ministry of War and could not give Xian Ruxing an immediate reply. Then he said tentatively: "I don't think you have done it before." Have you always admired that boy? In that case, will you send someone to Xu Jie later to inquire about today's events?"
"Why send someone?" Xian Ruxing was confused again.
"Ah," Zhu Houcong raised the corners of his mouth, but before he could speak, he heard the other person say.