A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 259
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Shangyuan Festival.

The nobles in Chang’an have long spent a lot of money to ask craftsmen to hang lanterns in front of their gates. The Shouyang Hou Mansion is an upstart, and Mrs. Fan, who is raising babies, specially instructed that the Wu family will build a big colorful building this year. come out.

This decision was opposed by the sister-in-law, who said that the cost of the two houses would be shared equally.

Huaiyu also discovered that this sister-in-law looks quiet, but she is indeed Cheng Yaojin's eldest daughter, and she is actually a person with a lot of ideas. If it weren't for the court's law that parents should not separate from brothers, she would definitely buy another house with Huaiyi. Go out and set up a door.

In the Shouyang Hou Mansion, Huaiyi, the eldest son, has been overshadowed by his brother's light all the time.

The two sisters-in-law each paid a large sum of money, and the funds are extremely abundant, so this year's colorful building of the Wu family is also extraordinarily grand, even a little ostentatious.

There are two colored buildings, one on the left and one on the right, which happens to represent the two houses of the Wu family.

Huaiyu went to the palace in the morning to face the saint, came back after lunch, and had to go to the palace for the palace banquet at dusk. The Chinese New Year holidays are actually quite busy for officials like them. Accompany the last seat, but still have to go.

Enter the workshop and walk along the street, and you can see many colorful buildings in the workshop from a distance.

The rich and powerful families in the square are basically built, some are high, some are low, some are big and some are small. From this colorful building, we can basically see the level of family status and power.

For example, if you are an official below the fifth rank, you generally have no qualifications and dare not ostentatiously build a colorful building, even if you have money. The income is not bad, but at most I can hang a few lanterns, but I dare not build a colorful building.

If you don't have a noble title, you usually build a one-story house with a bamboo and wood structure. That kind of house can't even be called a Cailou but can only be called a Caiping.

For the fourth and fifth ranks, there are two floors, which are tied with cloth, silk, paper, etc., and even some novelties are displayed, and some of them are equipped with statues of myths and legends on the upper floor.

Only relatives and noble families of the third grade or above can build more than three floors, and that is the real colorful building.

The highest building in Yongxingfang belongs to Duke Qi’s mansion. Qin Qiong is the Duke of Qi, and his wife is still the county lord. Although Qin Qiong is sick now, the emperor still promoted him to the second rank during the New Year. He did not forget this old man.

The Qin family built a five-story colorful building, which stands tall and can be seen from almost the entire square.

The three-story colored buildings of the other Xun Qi's houses in the square let him suppress them.

The two buildings of the Wu family are also three-story, after all, Huaiyu is the county lord who bestows gold and purple.

"Isn't our colorful house costing a lot?"

"Although the colorful building in our Shouyang Hou Mansion is not as tall as that of Qi Guogong's mansion, our house is more exquisite. We also use gear springs to drive the statue lanterns on the colorful building to move, and the lanterns on it can also move." Being able to follow along, this is a marquee..." At the gate, Zhao Yi answered irrelevant questions, showing off very much.

Although these two colored buildings were funded by the two sisters-in-law of the Wu family, they were all made by Zhao Yi. Zhao Yi was extremely proud of the moving statues and lanterns.

"Except for the master craftsman in our colorful building, the rest of the small workers are employed by the common people in our workshop. Everyone is very grateful to our family for their extra income."

Huaiyu looked up for a while. Bamboo and wood were the foundation, covered with silk, cloth, paper, and even clockwork gears. There were colorful statues and lanterns. Burning for several nights in a row consumes a lot of oil.

Everything costs money, just two or three days of showing off.

It is true that ordinary people cannot become nobles. According to what Zhao Yi said, the two colorful buildings cost about 300 yuan.

More than 30 yuan, those ordinary people in Chang'an City earn only ten or twenty Wen for a day's work.

In some workshops not so close to the imperial city, it would not cost so much to buy a house of two or three acres.

This is really burning money.

But this is the decency of the nobles. Since they are all nobles, face is very important. Although Huaiyu does not agree with this concept of the Tang people, he can only follow the trend.

During the three days of the Lantern Festival, King Wu couldn't help it.

This is the great grace of the emperor. It is rare to let go of the three-day curfew, allowing the people to freely enter and leave Lifang during these three nights, and will no longer be punished for breaking the ban.

But there's really nothing to do.

After all, even if the gate is open, every street is covered with muddy rotten roads after melting snow, bare roadside trees, and high and cold rammed earth square walls on both sides of the street.

There are no shops along the street, and there will be no night market, so for these three days, everyone just doesn't have to close it anymore, and can go out for a stroll and enjoy the freedom that is difficult to enjoy normally.

Of course, if the traders and common people are more flexible, they can also take the opportunity to set up a stall in these three days and do some small business by the way.

In fact, Huaiyu wanted to play to Li Shimin more than once, requesting to break the restrictions of the two cities, allow some street shops to be opened in Chang'an Zhufang, and allow some workshops to be opened in some workshops, which is convenient for the residents of Chang'an Lifang. It can also promote the development of Chang'an's industry and commerce and enhance economic prosperity.

But after thinking about it, forget it.

Because after he had an in-depth understanding of the situation in Chang'an, he found that ten years after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the shops and workshops in the eastern and western cities were less than one-third of what they were in the prosperous Sui Dynasty, and both cities were still empty.

Not to mention the year of Zhenguan, but the situation is still not peaceful, just like last year when the Turkic people attacked Weiqiao, and the year before last, the Turkic people also attacked Jingzhou. These urgent military pressures made Chang'an, even though it was the capital, , but still must first ensure its military defense.

The [-] workshops in Chang'an were originally designed for war, just like the watertight cabins on sea ships. In case the enemy attacked the city or even broke into Chang'an, it was necessary to ensure that Chang'an could resist one by one and not let the enemy seize it all at once.

On the other hand, Chang'an City is too big, and it is difficult to manage public security at ordinary times, so separate workshop management is also a good method.

As for the concentration of shops in the two cities, it will not be too chaotic because it will be beneficial to business management and the management of residents in Lifang.

When the management level is not enough, especially when the situation is still not safe at the beginning of the country, then the existing pattern of separating workshops and cities is undoubtedly a relatively good choice.

When the two cities are full in the future, they will naturally spill over, even to Chang'an City. This is the law of natural development.

Tang people's workshops are like the communities of later generations, and it is indeed not suitable for people to open shops and factories in the community.

After the snow, the sun shines,

It's cold.

After the festival, the two brothers, who were about to leave Beijing to go to the border to take office, sat together.

"Have you packed your luggage?"

"Well, it's almost ready. It's just that your sister-in-law is always adding things, and she has already bought several carriages." Huaiyi shook his head helplessly.

"I greeted An Yuanshou. When you arrive in Guazhou, you can contact An's family. Their An's family is a local snake in Hexi. You can ask them for help if you need help."

"I think you seem to have something on your mind recently, always looking unhappy?" Huai Yi asked his brother.

"After one year passes, one year grows older, and the troubles also increase," Huaiyu laughed at Dayu, and changed the subject.

Seeing this, Huaiyi didn't ask any more questions.

The two people who looked very similar sat there quietly, wondering what each was thinking.

The quiet state didn't last long, and the sister-in-law asked the maid to come and find Huaiyi to go back.

Huai Yi got up, "It's really restless for a while, I'll go first, remember to go out and enter the palace early, the road is muddy after the snow, and there are many people during the festival, don't get stuck on the road and miss the palace for the banquet."

Huaiyu nodded, "Go, sister-in-law must spend more time with you before you leave."

Huai Yi laughed.

"I have something to tell you. Aye has committed some crimes recently."

"What happened?"

"It seems that I went to Pingkangfang to drink with my colleagues before, and then fell in love with a certain prostitute. Now I want to redeem someone,"

Men turn bad when they have money, and so do older men.

It seems that Lao Wu is rejuvenated for a second time. Yang Shidao gave him two tricks before, and he secretly kept them in the Qujiang courtyard. He was pregnant with a child before telling his family, and Liu Dadu went to pick them up in person.

Now that he is drinking flower wine in a brothel, he still wants to learn how to redeem himself as a prostitute?

Really fulfilled that sentence, men have two major hobbies, persuading prostitutes to be good, pulling women from good families into the water, and doing all sorts of useless things.

Lao Wu is now fluttering, and the seventh-rank official of the Shenjifang Department has become more and more fluttering. Is this to keep the red flag at home from falling and the colorful flags fluttering outside?
Huaiyi was also helpless, "Well, it's not good for us as a son to intervene. If he wants to redeem it, he can redeem it. If he takes it back and becomes a concubine, it's not a big deal. The ransom for a hundred dollars is only good for buying two horses. Just a horse."

Huaiyu felt that it was necessary to find time to have a good chat with Lao Wu. Even if Lao Wu was proud of his sword and not old yet, he still had to exercise some restraint.

Wu Laoxi, who was so stingy in the past, would pick up every grain of rice dropped on the table and eat it, even if he raised sheep, he would not be willing to slaughter it to eat, but now he is lucky, with a few words of coaxing him to redeem himself for others .

The family is not short of that hundred dollars now, but Huaiyu always feels that if the father really wants to make some contributions to the Wu family, he can take a few girls from good families as concubines like a warrior.

It's not that he looks down on brothel girls, he really thinks that brothel girls come out of Fengyuechang after all, it's okay to socialize outside, but bringing them back to the backyard of the mansion may affect the family style.

Originally wanted to find Lao Wu, Huaiyu's heart suddenly moved.

Is there something tricky about Dad?
Pingkangfang brothel, he thought of Gao Huitong from Tingyulou, the nine-tailed fox member Wailang from the six doors, could it be that Lao Wu was also arranged?

This made him frown.

Huaiyu endured the eyeliner being placed around her before, but now that he has become a member of the family, he still wants to design Lao Wu like this?

Huaiyu went directly to Pingkangfang, which is not far from Yongxingfang. Pingkangfang is very lively today, the street is full of people, many students from the nearby Guozijian, and some students who came to Beijing to take the exam, Come to play in the workshop today.

Huaiyu went directly to Tingyulou.

This Tingyu building, which ordinary scholars can't even get into, did not stop Huaiyu, he came more than once, and was accompanied by Mrs. Gao several times, and he knew that this was Mrs. Gao's distinguished guest.

Huaiyu directly approached Gao Huitong to inquire about this matter.

"This matter has nothing to do with me, and I don't know the inside story. Let me ask first."

Gao Huitong called someone to make an arrangement to investigate,

She told Huaiyu, "You are suspicious, that girl is called Chuchu, the adopted daughter of Zhongqu's false mother, Baotan, who is also a member of the Jiaofang Division, and she is considered well-known in Zhongqu, young and beautiful, just like her name It's so pitiful, you, Aye, probably haven't seen anything like this before, and it's not surprising to be fascinated.

The girls in the Pingkangfang Sanqu, in fact, don’t look at the appearance on the surface, but they are actually quite pitiful. Whenever they have a chance, they all want to leave. The best way out for them is to find someone with power or money. Aristocratic officials and scholars, Fan Fuxiang married as a concubine, if it is really impossible to raise a housewife, it is better than here.

Although your official position is not high, Aye, but his son is very powerful. How can you easily let go of this opportunity when you meet the upstarts of the Wu family. "

A little girl like Chuchu couldn't escape Gao Huitong's eyes. She was just a Jiaofang girl who wanted to join the Wu family and escape from Pingkangfang.

Lao Wu was so happy to be coaxed by her, and wanted to redeem her body, this kind of thing would happen out of ten in Pingkangfang someday.

"If you don't want her to pester you again, Aye, I can help and send her to Luoyang or Yangzhou to ensure that she will never see your father again."

Huaiyu thought for a while, "Forget it, let the old man have fun."

(End of this chapter)