I studied in modern times

Chapter 768 Distribution of Benefits
The next morning, the Tongjiansi delivered the letter written by Lu Gongzhu.

Zhao Xu took it in his hand, read it once, and smiled.

"good!"

"Hundreds of people participated in yesterday's registration for buying poker tickets!"

The buying of bets in the Song Dynasty was similar to modern bidding.

There are open bidding and hidden bidding. Generally speaking, hidden bidding is the main method.

The general way it operates is somewhat like modern contracting.

The operation process is called "real sealing and submission", which means that the government will make an iron wooden box or iron box.

Then a date is chosen and all those who are willing to participate in the betting are called together. The name of the subject matter, the scope of the monopoly, the reserve price and the excess, as well as the profit distribution ratio between the government and the merchants are announced.

According to general rules, the government will set a deadline at this time, usually seven days or half a month.

This is the time for the buyer to raise funds or prepare collateral.

At the same time, during this process, the government also needs to post a notice in a public place within the scope of the betting, announcing the scope, amount, term and other contents of the subject matter.

When the agreed deadline comes, the government will once again call for buyers. At this time, the buyers can write their bids on paper, seal them in special envelopes, and put them in a special wooden or iron box made by the government.

Finally, the government would choose a day and publicly open the bidding letters one by one in the government office in front of everyone and read out the prices.

Generally, the highest bidder wins.

Because most of the food you buy is not something that can be eaten by one person or a few people.

Most people who buy poker form buying groups to participate in the game, either by fighting or leading.

Therefore, when Zhao Xu saw Lü Gongzhu's report that hundreds of people had signed up for the pawnshop purchase notice yesterday, he seemed very happy: "It's worth all my hard work over the past six months!"

In order to let as many wealthy families and powerful families in all the prefectures and counties of the Song Dynasty know as much as possible the good news that the imperial court is going to buy the Bianjing Pawnshop and that the Bianjing Pawnshop has already annexed all the Bianjing Pawnshops.

Over the past six months, Zhao Xu has been constantly carrying out propaganda and mobilization through the Bian Jing Newspaper, official announcements and court reports.

He even instructed Shi Deyi to send patrols to Luoyang, Yangzhou, Hangzhou, Xuzhou, Mingzhou and even Guangzhou, Quanzhou and other places where wealthy merchants of the Song Dynasty gathered to spread the word.

I am afraid that the wealthy people in the prefectures and counties of the world don’t know that Emperor Zhao has already tailored a good policy for them to share the same destiny with the country and is urging them to get on board quickly!
Looking at it now, the effect is still very good!

Among the more than 100 registered people, 60% were from Bian Jing, but the other 40% were merchants from prefectures and counties across the country.

That's great!
Zhao Xu knows it very well!

There is no alliance more solid than a community of shared interests!
Therefore, this time, the pawn purchase is not fair at all!

Zhao Xu had already prepared the glutinous rice dumpling soup!

Each pawnshop will be allocated according to the region.

Henan Prefecture must have one quota, the Southeast Six Routes must also have one quota, Fujian Routes and Liangzhe Routes must also have one quota...

It doesn’t matter who it is. What’s important is that this place with a large population or a special strategic position must have a representative!
Of course, as the imperial capital, Kaifeng Prefecture will definitely get the most places in this buying spree!

This is politics!

Now, merchants from all over the country, at least their representatives, have come to Beijing, and Zhao Xu should make some dumplings for them.

He read Lu Gongzhu's letter carefully, especially the list of more than a hundred merchants who bought tickets that Lu Gongzhu reported.

Zhao Xu called Feng Jing to his side and ordered him, "Take my order and go to Kaifeng Prefecture. Ask Cai Jing to check the birthplace, guarantor, and background of the relevant buyers in the next few days and report them in detail!"

"No!" Feng Jing took the order and left.

Zhao Xu picked up the note written by Lu Gong and went to sleep in the Funing Palace.

The person on duty in the bedroom of Funing Palace today is Meng Qingqing.

When Zhao Xu came in, Meng Qingqing was leading the female officials and palace maids to make the beds and clean the place.

Seeing Zhao Xu, Meng Qingqing hurriedly led the female officials to salute: "Your Majesty..."

"Yeah!" Zhao Xu nodded and looked at the huge map of Bianjing hanging on the south wall of Funing Hall.

This is the latest map of Bianliang drawn by Shen Kuo and Song Yongchen after they were ordered to jointly explore inside and outside Bianliang last spring.

Zhao Xu stood in front of the map that almost occupied the entire south wall of the bedroom in Funing Palace.

This map is extremely clear. On it, you can see not only every street and every district in the entire Bianjing city, but also every alley, every intersection, and every bridge are marked.

Unfortunately, Zhao Xu is still relatively short.

At the beginning of the month, when Qian Yi gave Zhao Xu a physical examination, the latest height he measured was a little over four feet six inches (about 146CM).

In the Song Dynasty, this height is considered very well developed for a boy of his age.

But many things are still a bit forced.

Just like now, he had to stand on tiptoe to see clearly the map hanging on the wall in front of him.

Seeing Zhao Xu standing on tiptoe and trying to raise his head, Meng Qingqing immediately reacted and quickly brought a stool over: "Sir, step on this stool, maybe you can see more clearly!"

"Thank you!" Zhao Xu nodded.

Meng Qingqing lowered her head quickly, her face reddening: "This is what I should do..."

She is fourteen this year and will soon be fifteen.

In the Middle Ages, many girls aged fifteen were already mothers.

What's more, in this palace, feudal lords like them would be taught early on how to serve and how to please the emperor.

That is to say, Zhao Xu was still young, and the two palaces and court officials kept a close eye on matters between men and women.

otherwise……

I wonder how many tricks this woman in the palace will use to seduce Zhao Xu?

Anyway, in Zhao Xu's previous life, the beauties in the palace were always trying to seduce him in every possible way.

Even modern people, after watching some of these scenes, would probably exclaim: Can cadres be tested in this way?
However, with the lessons learned from his previous life, Zhao Xu now knows how to maintain his health.

It is impossible for him to break the rules before he reaches the required age.

So, Zhao Xu ignored Meng Qingqing's shyness and stood directly on the stool.

Two female officials sent by the Empress Dowager immediately supported him on the left and right to help him stand firmly.

Meng Qingqing hurriedly brought people, holding candlesticks, and moved to the south wall so that Zhao Xu could see clearly.

Zhao Xu raised his head and looked at the map in front of him, muttering to himself: "Inner city of Bianjing, the first wing of the left army has 20 wards, the second wing has 16 wards..."

"The first wing and eight quarters of the right army... the second wing and two quarters..."

"New City East Wing Nine Lanes..."

The city of Bianjing was a deformed monster.

This monster did not grow up in the Song Dynasty.

Instead, it developed on the basis of the Bianzhou City of the Sui and Tang Dynasties.

So this city, like the system of the Song Dynasty, is a bloated mess with houses piled up on top of each other, and looks as strange as a Cthulhu monster.

Take the imperial city for example - the imperial palace of the Song Dynasty was rebuilt from the Yacheng of the Xuanwu Army Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty.

How big can a Jiedushi's Yacheng be?

Even so, half of the building area of ​​the imperial city had to be allocated to serve as the capital's Dutang (court hall), Lingting, Academy of Scholars, Privy Council, and various palace institutions.

What's even worse is that the layout of the entire palace must be adjusted according to the rules of setting up the capital in the same way as the sky for three generations. This means that the buildings in the entire palace have to be squeezed together.

Funing Hall, Baoci Palace and Qingshou Palace are located on a central axis.

The emperor went out for a walk and arrived at the door of the empress dowager's bedroom.

Like Zhao Xu in his previous life, he would lock himself in the palace and play the game of one dragon and two phoenixes with his concubines.

If you were Han Tang, it would be impossible for anyone to know you.

But in the Song Dynasty, the whole of Bianliang knew about it the next day - and the story was so detailed that all the details seemed as vivid as a live broadcast.

This cramped imperial city could not escape the prying eyes of others.

The situation in the imperial city was like this, and other places in Bianjing were not much better.

The inner city of Bianjing was built by Dong Jin, the then governor of Xuanwu Army, when the governor's headquarters was moved from Songzhou to Bianzhou during the reign of Emperor Dezong of Tang.

The "Records of the East and West Watergates of Bianzhou" written by the great writer Han Yu describes this incident.

The Bianzhou City at that time was designed according to the scale of a provincial capital.

The circumference is only twenty-one miles and one hundred and fifty steps.

A city like this, which can accommodate 100,000 soldiers and civilians, is already very crowded.

However, with the chaos of the Five Dynasties, four dynasties successively established their capitals in Bianliang, and the population of Bianliang became increasingly large.

The small old town could no longer accommodate the crowds and was overwhelmed.

Therefore, during the Later Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Shizong of Zhou, Chai Rong, decided to expand the city of Bianjing in three years in the second year of Xian De.

Chai Rong’s idea was good, but reality did not allow it.

This expansion of Bianliang City lasted only half a year and ended abruptly.

The reason is that Southern Tang and Later Zhou started to operate in Huainan.

All the resources of the entire country began to lean towards war.

Therefore, the newly built city of Bianjing was just a Luocheng with a circumference of 48 li and 230 steps.

It can't be compared with Chang'an and Luoyang of the Han and Tang Dynasties at all!
During the Song Dynasty, Taizu was busy eliminating warlords and unifying the country. He had neither the time nor the resources to expand Bianliang - what's more, Taizu was longing to move the capital to Luoyang and return home in glory.

Bianjing?

In his mind, it was just a temporary capital.

As for Taizong?

He actually regarded Bian Jing as his imperial capital and had no plans to move the capital.

But for well-known reasons, he cannot and must not build large-scale projects - he will be scolded to death.

And the real temple?
He actually wanted to!
But... he used all the money to build Yuqing Zhaoying Palace...

The Yuqing Zhaoying Palace was eventually burned to the ground by the bombardment of heavenly thunder.

With this precedent, how could Ren Miao dare to expand the city of Bianjing and renovate the palace?
Zhao Xu's father, the emperor, also wanted to rebuild and expand Bianliang.

The reconstruction of the outer city of Bianjing during the Yuanfeng period lasted for several years.

However, the country's resources are still mainly spent in the northwest.

The resources left for rebuilding and expanding Bianliang were pitifully few.

Song Yongchen could only use that pitiful little money to build a temple in a snail shell, do minor repairs and patch things up to comfort himself.

The city of Bianjing has been limping along in this bloated and deformed appearance for hundreds of years until today.

Therefore, the entire city of Bianjing, whether the inner city, the new city or the wing quarters outside the new city, was crowded and deformed.

Don't even think about building a capital city like the Han and Tang dynasties, with a sprawling and orderly structure.

Asymmetry between left and right, and disharmony between top and bottom, is the true appearance of Bianjing.

For example, in the inner city of Bianjing, the first wing of the left army had a total of twenty wards.

However, there are only eight districts in the first wing of the Right Army, and only two districts in the second wing - Jinshun and Shouchang.

When we arrived at the new city, the size of the wing suddenly increased.

The largest new city, the west wing, has twenty-six wards, and even the smallest east wing has nine wards, and the others all have twenty wards.

The most pitiful are the nine wings outside the new city. Four of them are isolated blocks, and the remaining five wings are basically two blocks.

As it happens, the nine wings outside the new city are the most densely populated area in the entire Bianjing.

On average, there are at least 10,000 people living in each block.

There were also a large number of merchants, scholars, and low-level civil and military officials who came to the capital for business.

Therefore, the question becomes who will get the quota for the zone after the purchase of the tickets.

Zhao Xu held his chin in his hand and thought, "These nine pawnshops outside the new city must be reserved for the wealthy merchants from various states and counties!"

The nine wings outside the new city were not protected by city walls and the government management was relatively lax.

There are all kinds of characters here, and countless heroes have come out of here.

This is a hot land and also the only way for the city of Bianjing to continue to expand in the future.

Therefore, reserving it for wealthy merchants in the prefectures and counties is both to protect them and to be responsible for them - a big tree attracts the wind, and earning a lot of money is likely to arouse envy.

"In the new city, we must also reserve one or two pawnshops to unite the southeast with Quanzhou, Mingzhou, and Guangzhou!"

The six southeastern routes were the source of food for the city of Bianjing, and also the source of wealth.

In the past, these six routes were exploited to the bone by successive Zhao officials.

Therefore, there was a lot of resentment, and it was inevitable that they would become alienated from the court.

In the end, Fang La's uprising was forced to rebel by Zhao Ji, which could be a small warning to Emperor Zhao from the six powerful people and landlords.

Therefore, the united front value of the Southeast Six Route in Zhao Xu's eyes is maximized!
A separate plot of land must be chosen for them in the new city.

As for Quanzhou, Mingzhou and Guangzhou, these three places are the foreign economic and trade windows that Zhao Xu focuses on developing.

Naturally, it is also full of united front value and must be given extra care.

Therefore... these three port cities must have a pawnshop in Bianjing City. At the same time, only in this way can the local tyrants in these places willingly bring their wealth to Bianjing City.

Only in this way can Zhao Xu's strategy of strengthening the capital have actual effect.

"The east wing of the new city will be reserved for Fujian, Quanzhou, and Guangzhou..."

This is the smallest ward in the new city, with only nine wards in total.

For the maritime merchants who are still developing now, if they take this place, it will not be too conspicuous and at the same time it can express the court's attention to them.

"And the southern part of the new city can be reserved for the six southeastern routes..."

There is a key area in the south wing of the new city - Imperial College, Imperial Academy, Military Academy, Law School, and Mathematical School, all of which are around Longjin Bridge in the south wing of the city.

The six routes in the southeast have existed from ancient times to the present day, even in modern times.

They are all famous for their roll education!
Reserving this place for them will help to better win over and unite the local powerful people.

(End of this chapter)