Fenghou

Chen Qing nodded, "How is the land sold?"

Jiang Yanxian smiled and said, "The sales were very hot some time ago. Half of the shops along the street have been sold, and [-]% of the residential plots have been sold. There are even some Lin'an merchants who bought them with gold and silver. Your Highness, the land of these shops has already increased per mu. Up to [-] guan, but recently it has become a bit deserted."

"why?"

"Isn't it because everyone is worried that His Highness will move to Bianliang?"

It turned out that he was worried about this, Chen Qing nodded with a smile and said: "After I make a statement tomorrow, it will probably start to be lively again."

It was raining heavily, Chen Qing and Jiang Yanxian got into the carriage again, and the carriage continued to drive towards Taixue.

Xintaixue covers an area of ​​[-] mu, and to the south is a lake called Nanhu. The construction of large buildings is in full swing, and the outside is covered with bamboo frames.

"Now Taixue has encountered a problem." Jiang Yanxian hesitated to speak.

Chen Qing glanced at him, and said dissatisfiedly: "If you have anything to say, just say it, will I still punish you for lying?"

Jiang Yanxian sighed and said: "We have recruited three classes of Tai students, 400 students in each class, and there should be 200 students in the school, but the actual number of students in the school is less than 400, and there are only 380 students left. The rest have dropped out of school. gone."

"why?"

"Your Highness should know that Taixue is not a place to study agriculture, smelting, machine skills, or weapon making. It is a place to study poetry and scriptures. Although we have also arranged for great Confucianism to teach, the time Too little is just a supplement. Students spend most of their time planting tea and raising silkworms, identifying ore and smelting. Your Highness, why don’t you build two colleges, one for engineering and one for literature? There will be an embarrassing situation where most of the students drop out."

Chen Qing shook his head, and asked back: "How many students are there among the Jinshi candidates? As far as I remember, there are not all of them! And almost all Jinshi have studied at the state school or the government school. What does it mean? It is enough to finish reading the text in the state school and the government school. There is no need to continue to study in the Taixue. What is the point of teaching scriptures in the Taixue? I don’t want to study in the Taixue. Can’t I study at home? I still need to occupy the quota. Make it impossible for students who really want to study in Taixue to enter."

After a pause, Chen Qing said again: "I told you a long time ago that I set up the Taixue to train technical bureaucrats, who understand agriculture to become agricultural officials, and those who understand smelting to become smelting officials, not a group of people who can only read scriptures. People are in charge of technology, they don’t want to study in Taixue, I will not force it, we will continue to open the application for students who are willing to study in Taixue.”

"Your Highness, don't you want to start another imperial school?"

"no need!"

Chen Qing's attitude was very tough, he said to Jiang Yanxian: "I understand what you mean, do many officials have objections?"

Jiang Yanxian nodded, sighed and said: "In the records of humble positions, there are more than [-] officials who have made this request, and they are all thinking about their children."

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and said: "It is impossible for me to open another Taixue, it will occupy the current number of officials in Taixue, but we can use three solutions to solve it. First, we can open another one during the imperial examination. Ming Jing Ke can appropriately expand the number of people on the list, which is mainly used to arrange civil servants;

Second, the study period of state schools and prefectural schools can be extended. On the basis of three years of prefectural and prefectural schools, an upper state or prefectural school can be added. The schooling period is two years, and it is equivalent to Mingjing division;

Third, you can study the imperial court's system exams and conduct another selection for all officials. "

Jiang Yanxian was really helpless. The officials were all staring at the fact that the Taixue could be awarded an official. They all wanted to send their children to the Taixue, but they were unwilling to study the professional technical courses of the Taixue, so they kept looking for him, hoping to send the Taixue The curriculum was changed to be the same as that of the imperial court, or another imperial school was established, but Chen Qing was unwilling to give in at all.

how can that be possible?If you can come out to be an official after studying at a high school, what's the point of being a Jinshi?These officials were all wishful thinking, thinking it was a loophole, but King Yong refused to budge.

In fact, Jiang Yanxian also understands Chen Qing's thoughts. Professionals do professional things. This is a sentence that Chen Qing often talks about. Those who understand technology take care of technology, and various advanced technologies will emerge in large numbers.

If people who don't know technology manage technology, the result will inevitably be to do everything possible to suppress the emergence of new technology, because new technology represents risk, and risk means unstable official positions, so civil servants would rather keep the old and seek stability than allow risks to arise.

Jiang Yanxian had no choice but to sigh and said: "Okay! I will discuss with the Internal Affairs Hall again, and strive to implement the three plans of Your Highness."

Chapter 49 Wrath

After leaving Taixue, Chen Qing came to Xinshi Wasi, which is one of the four major tiles in Jingzhao City. Xinshi Wasi is also called Chengnan Wasi. It is located in Jishanfang in the south of the city, close to the newly opened Nancheng.

The four big tiles are actually one each in the southeast and northwest. Of course, there are more than four tiles in Jingzhao City, and there are seventeen tiles in large and small sizes.

The so-called Wa Si is a complex of later generations, which integrates food, drink and entertainment. There are not only various dense shops, but also large and small stages. , History, Sanle, Movies, Playing with insects and ants, Zhugong Diao, Gossip, Business Riddles, Calling Fruits and so on.

The whole family came to play at dawn, and would not go home until midnight.

The shops in Wasi are very small, with small profits but quick turnover, and you can get enough food for a dozen yuan. If you think it is low-grade, there are many restaurants and teahouses with large areas on the streets on both sides of the gate of Wasi. Can be considered mid-range.

The real high-end restaurants are not located in the neighborhood, but on famous commercial streets, such as East Street, West Street and so on.

Both Chen Qing and Jiang Yanxian were wearing casual clothes. He had prepared for a long time, took out two beards and stuck them to his lips, smeared his skin a bit, and then swaggered into the gate of Wasi with a folding fan.

It is still in the morning, and the doors of most shops have just opened, because there is no curfew in Jingzhao, and the city gates are not closed. Most snack shops will not close until the third watch, go back to sleep for a few hours, and open again the next morning. , very difficult, most of them are mom-and-pop shops.

Chen Qing spent [-] Wen at a Chen Ji food stall, and ordered two bowls of minced meat wontons. While eating with Jiang Yanxian, he appreciated the hard work of the people.

"How long does sister-in-law have to make a living every day?" Chen Qingxiao asked.

The female shop owner wiped the tables and chairs quickly, and said with a smile, "The shop won't be closed until the third watch!"

"Is it like this every day?" Jiang Yanxian asked from the side.

"Almost! Otherwise, how can we support a family."

"The rent of a small shop is very expensive!" Chen Qing asked quietly.

The female shopkeeper sighed and said: "Now that the land in the south is sold, the housing prices in the whole city are going up desperately, and the rent is also rising sharply. The two rooms I rented nearby used to be [-] Wen, but now they have risen to [-] Wen." , The monthly rent of this small shop is three yuan, and now it has risen to five yuan. I work hard every day, and I can only make less than three yuan a month. A family of five can only live on it. Fortunately, the government does not charge it. Taxes, if you collect more taxes, you won’t be able to afford food.”

Jiang Yanxian was sweating profusely, but it wasn't spicy. He knew what King Yong meant by bringing him to eat wontons. The price of land in the south rose too sharply, and even the housing prices and rents of the whole city soared. The people at the bottom could no longer afford it.

While the female shopkeeper was bringing the bowl inside, Jiang Yanxian hurriedly said: "I understand, let's go back and discuss it with everyone."

"No need to discuss!"

Chen Qing knocked on the table with his knuckles and said coldly: "Wasi's houses are all owned by the government, and the rent will be restored to the original state immediately, and the rental houses of the government will also be reduced immediately. From top to bottom, get the hell out of me!"

This time Chen Qing was really angry. He had no choice but to raise the price privately, but the biggest landlord government in the city also raised the price, and it was a big increase, completely disregarding the life and death of the people at the bottom, even the Lin'an government was inferior.

"Also, whoever decided the rent increase this time, immediately take the blame and resign today, and I'll send internal guards to investigate, and I found out that there are corruptions and corruptions in it, watch out for his head!"

Jiang Yanxian repeatedly nodded in agreement, he couldn't sit still any longer, so he simply called a bullock cart and went back to the official room first, Chen Qing sent two personal soldiers to escort him back.

……

Chen Qing returned to his official room, and just as he sat down, Jiang Yan came over and handed a resignation to Chen Qing, "Your Highness, this is the request for resignation from Gao Kun, the order of the Mine, Land and Housing Administration. He decided to increase the rent of the official room. It has been ordered to restore all the original prices, and then take the blame and resign."

"Does the Land and Housing Administration have the right to raise the price?"

Jiang Yanxian said helplessly: "If this matter is pursued further, all the counselors of the Internal Affairs Hall will have to resign!"

Sure enough, I was right in guessing, it was the decision of the Internal Affairs Hall to let Gao Kun take the blame.

Chen Qing restrained his anger and said, "Then tell me, why did you increase the rent?"

Jiang Yanxian smiled wryly and said, "Actually, His Highness also knows the reason. In the final analysis, there is still insufficient taxation and too much pressure on military expenditure."

Chen Qing put Gao Kun's resignation aside, and said to Jiang Yanxian: "Let Gao Kun deal with the price increase of the official house first, and then discuss his resignation later. In addition, invite several counselors to my official house, let's discuss it! "

Jiang Yanxian breathed a sigh of relief. Gao Kun will not be dismissed. This is obviously a matter decided by the Internal Affairs Hall. He felt really guilty for letting Gao Kun take the blame.

"Humble job, let's arrange it!"

……

Not long after, in the meeting hall, five internal affairs counselors came, including Jiang Yanxian, Zhao Kai, Guan Shigu, Zhou Kuan and Zhang Miao.

"I just came back yesterday. It's the first day I've come to the official room. I should talk to everyone about some happy things, but... I think everyone already knows that the rent increase has become unbearable for the low-level people. It is estimated that the army was welcomed into the city yesterday. There are not many low-level people in the common people, and they all scold me Chen Bopi behind my back!"

Zhao Kai sighed and said: "This is my responsibility, it is my suggestion. I want to make up for the lack of taxation. I never thought that it would affect the reputation of His Highness. I am willing to bear all responsibilities."

Chen Qing waved his hand, "I didn't call you here to pursue responsibility. I don't even pursue Gao Kun's responsibility for the time being. I want to solve the problem. Everyone, I want to clarify one thing with you. My tax exemption is to reduce the burden on the people. To win the hearts and minds of the people, but I will not bring down my own regime for the sake of tax exemption, so I cannot avoid the salt tax and wine tax, Counselor Zhao should know how much of the total tax revenue is the salt tax and wine tax?"

Zhao Kai nodded, "About [-]%!"

"That's right. We have indeed exempted household tax, land tax, business tax and other exorbitant taxes. The common people have benefited, but our tax revenue has not decreased much. On the contrary, with the addition of various government revenues, the total income Even higher than before, have we exempted from taxes? In fact, we have not exempted, we just canceled all kinds of exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes that oppressed the people, greatly reducing the degree of oppression of the people, that's all.

So in the future, everyone, don’t just talk about tax exemption. Salt tax and liquor tax are unavoidable, so there is no real tax exemption. It is just to reduce the burden of the people, not to cancel the burden of the people. Do you understand what I mean? "

Everyone nodded silently, how could they not understand?Pushing the responsibility for financial insufficiency to tax exemption at every turn means that everything is the responsibility of King Yong, which makes King Yong unhappy.

Chen Qing saw that everyone nodded, and said again: "Then let's talk about the house. I went to see the new land in the south of the city today. 200% of the house land has been sold, but I request that [-]% of the land must be left as a source of government rented housing." , rent out the shop and house to the common people, everyone, now the land in the south of the city is soaring, and everyone has made a lot of money. My land, Chen Qing, is worth [-] million yuan. Of course I am happy, but... money is important, but our regime is even more important. I don’t care how the housing land increases, but the rental price must be brought down, so we must increase housing supply from the source.”

Zhou Kuan knocked on the table and said slowly: "Your Highness is right. Recently, the price of land has gone up too crazy. It's not normal for two shabby cottages to sell for thousands of yuan. The servants in my family have great opinions. I'm thinking about it, let me give you an opinion!

We not only increase the housing stock of the low-level people, but also increase the rental demand of the middle-level people, greatly increase the number of one-acre and two-mu yards, and sign a long-term lease agreement. For example, the rent will remain unchanged for ten years. If the tenant wants to sublet, The increased rent goes to the government. "

Zhang Miao said with a smile: "Once you introduce this method, I am afraid that the price of houses with more than two acres will rise sharply, and the prices of other small houses will not be able to rise. But will someone buy a few small houses and put them together to form a large piece of land and sell them to earn money?" What about windfall profits?"

Zhou Kuan shook his head, "Others are not fools, will you let him take advantage of this?"

Chen Qing waved his hand, everyone quieted down, Chen Qing said slowly: "How to do it specifically, let the Land and Housing Administration figure out a way, we only ask, first, increase the number of official rental housing, there is no need to increase the number of shops, but the housing must be at least Second, the rent, no matter whether it is a store or a house, is not allowed to increase in price within ten years; third, no second landlord is allowed to exist, renting a low-cost house from the government and subletting it out at a high price. The situation will never allow it. If the lease term is too long, you can change it, you can cancel the lease, but you can’t sublet; fourth, convenience, renting out should be as convenient as buying vegetables in the market.”

-------------Chapter Dividing Line---------------

There is no objection to the proposal of increasing the housing supply and reducing the rent. Everyone agrees that it will be implemented by the Land and Housing Administration. In fact, Gao Kun has already ordered to rule the city's house affairs, reduce the rent of the official housing in the city, and restore it to the standard at the beginning of the year. All rent collected will be refunded. This is the exact execution of Chen Qing's order.

After lunch at noon, Chao Qing handed over a statement to Chen Qing, "Your Highness, do you think this is properly written?"

"What is this?" Chen Qing was slightly taken aback.

"Is it the statement that Prince Yong's Mansion will not move to Bianliang? You asked the humble official to draft it this morning."

It was only then that Chen Qing remembered that he and Jiang Yan had talked about this matter. At that time, he wanted to write it, but now...

"What do you think will happen after this statement is published in the newspaper?" Chen Qing asked thoughtfully.

Chao Qing was silent for a moment and said, "The price of land will continue to soar!"

Chen Qing shook his head, "I just don't understand, the land price is obviously stable, how could it suddenly increase?"

"Your Highness, this is directly related to your recovery of the Central Plains. In fact, the sharp increase in land prices in Jingzhao began after the Western Army took over Luoyang. This is actually a kind of expectation for the future of the wealthy people in the world. gone."

"Oh? Land prices in Lin'an have dropped, is that true?"

"It was stated in a report sent by the Lin'an Intelligence Station, but the report was completed before Luoyang was conquered, so I think that we need to continue to observe it. In addition, the Lin'an Intelligence Station was implicated in the Yangzhou fire and was hit by the court. Hu Yun has a A detailed report is among the pile of paperwork this morning."

"I know, let's get back first!"

Chao Qing hesitated, "Your Highness, then this statement..."

Chen Qing shook his head, "This kind of statement has tied me up, and no one can decide what will happen in the future, so don't worry about it."

"I understand it."

Chao Qing saluted and retreated.

As soon as he went out, Chao Qing said again: "Your Highness, Counselor Zhou is asking to see you!"

"Please come in!"

Zhou Kuan quickly walked into the official room and said with a smile: "Your Highness, it's still time to rest, let's have a cup of tea!"

"it is good!"

Chen Qing readily agreed, and the two came to Yi'an Teahouse diagonally opposite. Zhou Kuan walked in and said with a smile, "Fry a pot of Fengcha tea, and put it in the account of His Royal Highness King Yong."

Chen Qing couldn't help laughing, he treated guests but asked himself to pay the bill, that's a good plan!

The two were led by Cha Ji to sit down in Tianfu Pavilion, Zhou Kuan said with a smile: "This is the only teahouse in Jingzhao that serves Phoenix tea, of course it is blessed by the princess, but the price is expensive! A pot of Phoenix tea costs ten guan Money, you can’t usually afford it.”

"Feng tea is a luxury, and I don't care if it goes up to the sky, but the land price rises too fast, it's really not what I want to see."

"His Royal Highness, you don't need to worry too much. The rise in land prices has its own reasons. It's really expensive and unbearable. You can buy a house outside the city! In this way, the outside of the city can also prosper. As long as we don't curfew or close the city gates, we will I feel that there is no difference between living outside the city and inside the city, the key is that the government should be able to firmly control the rent of the people at the bottom.”

Chen Qing nodded, "Are the land prices in the city very expensive?"

"No, the large slum area in the west city is not expensive, and the land is only more than a hundred yuan per mu, and there is no guarantee that someone will buy it. If you spend more than a hundred yuan to buy land in a slum area, it is really better to buy it outside the city."

"How much is the land outside the city?"

"One mu of house land is less than [-] guan! My Sanlang bought [-] mu of house land outside Dongcheng, [-] guan per mu."

"Only eighty per mu!"

Chen Qing was a little surprised: "This price is really cheap, and the price difference is more than ten times that of a city wall?"

"This is the same reason that the price in the slums cannot be sold at a high price. Isn't it the same in Bianliang during the Xuanhe period? A ten-acre house in the city has hundreds of thousands of houses, but a two-acre yard in a suburban village is only a few hundred houses. , Even ordinary small courtyards in the city are not that expensive, and you can buy a small courtyard of one acre in Qianguan, so I advise Your Highness not to worry too much. "

Chen Qing took a sip of tea and said, "I heard from Lao Jiang that there are even businessmen from Lin'an who come to Jingzhao to buy houses. What do they buy?"

"Your Highness, I don't know if anyone in Lin'an has come to buy land, but just like what His Highness said, what do you buy it with? Tens of thousands of houses are bought with copper coins, and they ran from Lin'an to Jingzhaolai? Obviously unrealistic, with gold If you want to buy silver, how much gold and silver do you need? Let’s say it’s a 4000-guan shop! That’s 250 taels of silver, [-] catties. It’s possible, but the imperial court has strict controls on silver. , that is going to jail, does your Highness understand what I mean?"

Chen Qing nodded, "Even if there are people from Lin'an who buy land with silver, they won't say anything."

"That's right! The money is not in vain. There are really people from Lin'an who come to buy land. He will never admit that he is from Lin'an. He will only buy it silently. But now the whole city is talking about people from Lin'an coming to buy land. What is going on? Woolen cloth?"

Chen Qingruo realized something, "Someone is deliberately spreading rumors, fueling the flames, and trying to push up Jingzhao's land price?"

Zhou Kuan smiled, "Man dies for wealth, birds die for food, and Jingzhao's land price rises, which involves the interests of too many people, especially the interests of the government. All of a sudden, the land transaction was frozen, and for seven days, the new plot in Nancheng did not sell a piece of land. Everyone was in a hurry, and the five counselors from the Internal Affairs Hall went to the princess, including me, and begged the princess to write a statement to dispel the rumors."

Chen Qing understood that the increase in land was promoted by the government, most of the land was in the hands of the government, and the government was the biggest beneficiary of the increase in land.

He nodded and said, "So the Internal Affairs Hall fabricated the rumor that people from Lin'an came to Jingzhao to buy a house."

"It was compiled by the Land and Housing Administration. Gao Kun was so anxious that he vomited blood that he hadn't sold a piece of land in seven days. His subordinates thought of this trick for him, but it still didn't work. In the end, it was the princess' statement that worked."

Chen Qing pondered for a moment and asked, "How many rental houses are there in Bianliang Government House in Tokyo?"

"There are [-] houses and [-] shops."