back to ancient times to be emperor

Chapter 629

A middle-aged man about forty years old got off the carriage, with an extraordinary bearing.Perhaps this is the difference between people who have read a lot of poetry and books. When a teenager sees a middle-aged man, he shrinks back two steps, like a mouse seeing a cat.The middle-aged man ignored him, but directly bowed his hands to the landlord, and said politely: "Master, we are scholars who are going to Beijing to rush for the exam, so it is up to you if you can accommodate me, the rent is too expensive... "

The landlord also respects scholars very much. Who knows whether these "down and out" scholars will soar into the sky after this course?Since this middle-aged man treats each other with courtesy, he is also very polite: "To tell you the truth, it's not that I think so, the whole Chang'an is like this. If you don't believe me, you can go and inquire, what I gave is already the lowest The price is high. In Chang'an, if you can rent a large courtyard for ten yuan, you may not be able to find another one."

The middle-aged man frowned: "Then why was the rent only over a hundred Wen when I came to Chang'an last time?"

"Master, you must have come to Beijing to take the exam last time, right?"

The middle-aged man was taken aback: "What does it have to do with Enke?"

"It's very important! The master doesn't know something. If you rent these two houses in the courtyard for a few hundred yuan on weekdays, it has nothing to do with you. But it just so happens that it's Enke's time. Here's Jing Shizi Once there are too many, this house will not be enough to live in. If it was a few years ago, it doesn’t matter, you can go to the store to do some housework, and you can live in a public house. But these years, there are too many people in Chang’an City, and the public house The supply is in short supply, not to mention outsiders, even people from Chang’an may not be able to live in a public house! We are ordinary people, and we rent out our house just for food and clothing. This thing is rare and expensive, and it has caught up with the imperial examination Only by taking the exam can you earn such a small amount. If several people go to the inn, it will be more expensive!" The landlord knew everything, and the middle-aged man could see from his open eyes that he was not lying.

"Isn't there really no room for housekeeping?" The middle-aged man didn't give up, and wanted a miracle to happen.

The landlord smiled and said: "Master doesn't know something. Since the introduction of the commercial tax, the people who come and go to Chang'an City are all people from all corners of the country. The number of people in Chang'an City has increased suddenly like steamed dough. If it weren't for this If the regulations come out, those merchants may occupy all the public houses! The rent of the public houses is cheap, how can the merchants not know? These people have sharpened their heads and want to take advantage of the loopholes. people, where are you going to live?"

The middle-aged man was taken aback for a moment, and it was the same reason after thinking about it.Where is the shop?The house affairs of this shop are also called building shop affairs, which can be regarded as a yamen.This yamen used to be quite lucrative, because it was in charge of the rent of public housing. Of course, it was also responsible for the management and maintenance of the real estate of the imperial court, including public housing and government offices.Since the establishment of the supervisory department, this shop's housekeeping is no longer popular.After all, the little emperor couldn't tolerate sand in his eyes.You can also think that, because Chang'an City is the economic, political and military center of this era, and even an international metropolis with "All Nations and Xiantong", not only people flocked to Chang'an in large numbers, but even merchants from Persia, Tianzhu, Japan and other countries flocked in succession. .As a result, the house rental market in Chang'an City is booming, and rising house prices have made more and more people unable to rent houses and can only sleep on the streets.Chang'an City is the majestic capital of the country, at the feet of the emperor, how can this be tolerated?Therefore, since the reign of Qiande, in order to stabilize the society, the Dashun court has introduced a "low-rent housing" policy, which is to rent cheap housing to the common people.

In the store house affairs, there are also store house affairs in the left wing and house house affairs in the right wing.The main thing is to divide Chang'an City into two, the left wing store is responsible for the public housing on the left side of Mingde Gate in Chang'an City; the right wing is responsible for the public housing on the right side of Mingde Gate.Take the house affairs of the Zuoxiangdian in Chang'an City as an example. The highest official is called "the official affairs of the Zuoxiangdian". The official is not a high-ranking official.Don't look at it as a small official, its background is not small at all, just like Bi Mawen in "Journey to the West", he has supervisors, deputy supervisors, code books, strongmen, officials of all sizes, etc. under his command.Of course, this "Bi Ma Wen" is a fabricated official position, and the official position of raising horses is quite high in the Chinese dynasty.After all, the ancient cavalry was a very expensive unit, and it was expensive to keep, so it was quite a high-ranking official to serve as its chief officer.Take the Mumajian as an example, the prisons are all grade six, how can it be as badly written as in "Journey to the West"?Well, this is off topic...

Talking about the house affairs of the store, the subordinates of this "operate in the house affairs of the left-side shop" are also like the horse herding supervisor, with many subordinates.The two deputies of the chief official are called "specialized officials for shop and house affairs". Wait, these are the official ranks, and the others are senior officials. Knowing this, you don't have to be afraid of those bluffing names.The "shop and house affairs specialists" are minor officials of the eighth rank, and there are three "store and house affairs coercion officers" of the ninth rank, and fifty "money-grabbing and marriage officials" of the ninth rank.If the ten-rank official hadn't started, there would still be five hundred small official staff, called the "Zuoxiang store house repair and selection commander", and now they have transformed into officials.

How are these people divided?Among them, the "Shop Repair Commander in the Left Wing" is in charge of maintaining public housing and adding bricks and tiles. Who makes them the least official and the most people. The "money plundering and marriage officer" goes door-to-door to collect rent, the "store and house affairs procurator" regularly inspects public housing within the jurisdiction, and the "shop and house affairs expert" sub-jurisdicts the maintenance, leasing and rent collection of public housing within the jurisdiction. The house affairs of the left-side store are in charge of the overall work.This is generally the case with housekeeping.If you leave it in the past, just put some money in, regardless of whether you are registered in Chang'an, you can rent a public house, spend the least money, and live in a big house.But after the little emperor came to power, any loopholes were almost blocked, and this benefit was naturally gone.Merchants traveling north and south can only live in inns or rent private houses.But after the imperial court paid more attention to business, they made more money, and they didn't care about the small money anymore.

But this policy has made it hard for the scholars who came to Beijing to take the exam.Not all scholars are rich and local tyrants.Even a local tyrant may not be able to live in a large courtyard with one or two entrances during the imperial examination period!The rent is really like sesame blossoms, rising steadily!Even Su Shi, a "local tycoon" from Meizhou, could only stay in Pingshan Academy when he was rushing to take the exam. You can think about it, how far the house prices have risen from the ground during the imperial examination in Chang'an City.

Therefore, scholars rushing to take the exam can only squeeze into inns on the outskirts of the city, or borrow to live in Pingshan Academy.But now it was less than a month since the exam, and the cheap inns on the outskirts of the city were already full, and it was impossible for Pingshan Academy to accommodate so many scholars.Some desperate scholars had to go door to door to beg for shelter.It's good if you have relatives in Chang'an, but if you don't, you can only knock on the door cheekily.Or find an unoccupied ruined temple. After all, most of the beggars in Chang'an City were taken into the factories opened by Huangzhuang.It's not shameful to live in a ruined temple. Fan Zhongyan, the prime minister during the Yuanshou period, even lived in a ruined temple.Of course, if you can persuade the monks in the temples in Chang'an City, it is also possible to place an order.Not to mention that you don't know yet, these monks are the real "tyrants" in Chang'an City!
The middle-aged man listened to the landlord rambling a lot, and his brows became more and more wrinkled.They traveled all the way from Linchuan and experienced "countless disasters"-the carriage broke down on the road several times before they arrived in Chang'an.It was because I was too hasty and unprepared that I couldn't even find a place to live.

The middle-aged man said in a begging voice: "Brother, this Enke is not always open, so why don't you accommodate me? Look at my big family, it's getting late, where can we go?" In this way, if you are flexible, how about a monthly rent of six pennies?"

(In fact, writing this chapter is quite emotional, because I have rented a house in Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and I know that the housing prices there are really high. It is still calculated according to the prices in ancient times. In the capital city. Today’s people live harder than the ancients. Sometimes because of a room, you will envy the ancients. Why are there so many low-rent houses? It’s not a small single room, but a big courtyard. Of course, the ancient population did not Now that there are so many, thinking this way is also very helpless to reality.)
(End of this chapter)