I have lived forever since the end of Qin Dynasty

Chapter 401 Busy preparations

In the next few days, Chen Luo was extremely busy.

There is just too much to do.

The first thing is to find a new residence.

Everything in Chang'an is expensive, and every inch of land is valuable.

Of course, this wasn't always the case.

More than seventy years ago, the place where Chang'an City was located was just a plain with only a few villages. However, after Chen Luo and Xiao He determined the site of Chang'an City, it became the center of the Han Dynasty.

The last time Chen Luo chose to live in Chang'an for a long time was during the reign of Emperor Gaozu.

At that time, house prices in Chang'an were quite cheap.

After all, according to the Chang'an urban construction plan designed by the Mohists, the city's upper population limit is enough to reach one million.

At that time, the population of Guanzhong was over one million, and the number of residents in a single city was simply beyond imagination. Except for a few people such as Liu Bang and Xiao He, they were actually skeptical of this plan.

Even for a considerable period of time after Liu Bang's death, Chang'an's infrastructure was at a standstill.

Later in the reign of Emperor Xiaohui and after Emperor Xiaowen came to power, it was discovered that the population of Chang'an was growing exponentially, and a large number of foreign people moved in, which put considerable pressure on the overall management of Chang'an City.

If Chang'an hadn't laid a good foundation in its early planning, it might have suddenly split into "half heaven, half hell." A wealthy area where dignitaries live, two or three streets away, is a dirty and chaotic slum.

Although the northwest part of Chang'an, which is close to the palace city, is better developed now, the overall development is balanced.

Chang'an's rapidly growing population brought excessive pressure. Emperor Xiaowen initially chose to strengthen the household registration system of the early Han Dynasty and strictly prohibited people from migrating at will without any reason.

By the middle period of Emperor Xiaojing's reign, the urban construction of Chang'an was becoming more and more complete. Coupled with the changes in the situation in the Han Dynasty, the original policy of restricting population movement was gradually relaxed.

However, by this time, the housing prices in Chang'an had soared. The cost of living in Chang'an was about twice that of the local county and nearly three times that of the county seat. It was no longer so attractive to ordinary people everywhere.

until today.

Chang'an has almost been built according to the plan more than seventy years ago. According to the census results of the year before last, the population of the entire city has exceeded one million. For this reason, Liu Che also issued a special decree to increase the construction of surrounding counties. Similar to the existence of "satellite cities" in later generations, they shared Chang'an's population pressure.

These contents were all learned by Chen Luo during the house viewing.

The general trend of history is a stage set up for romantic figures, but the life of ordinary people is nothing more than firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea, and such trivial matters.

For example, the initial context of changes in housing prices in Chang'an is something Chen Luo has never cared about before.

I used to stay in Chang'an, so I didn't have to worry about food, clothing, housing and transportation, and there was no need to care about changes in housing prices. Now that I have related needs, I know that there are so many doorways in housing prices.

"Everything in Chang'an is expensive, and it's not easy to live in Chang'an." After looking at the house for a whole day, Chen Luo sighed softly after returning to the house, rubbing his brows.

This was originally a joke made thousands of years later, but it has an effect that runs through time and space.

Life was hard in ancient times, and all they wanted was to keep warm. Thousands of years later, there is no need to worry about basic warmth. However, if a relative in the family gets a serious illness, it may cause the entire family's living conditions to decline.

Perhaps no matter what era, the lives of the people at the bottom have never been easy.

"Yes." Li Xu sighed, "Sixty or seventy years ago, there were still a large number of ancestors of the Mohist family living in the suburbs of Chang'an, educating the people. However, as time went by, the price of food here became higher and higher, and those ancestors could not bear to spend it. Too much money left Chang'an and went to Yangxia."

The flourishing scope of Mohism was mainly concentrated in two places.

Needless to say, the first place is the base area of ​​Yangxia.

It forcibly became the hub of Mohism's north-south trade, and Mohist disciples educated the people. Mohism's doctrine was the overlord that no one could shake in this area.

The second place is Daichi.

Since Chen Luo had governed Daidi for ten years, and Liu Ruyi later continued his governing attitude, Daidi's policies benefited the Mohists.

Therefore, according to the statistics of the total amount of Mohist trade, Daidi's transaction volume is often unexpected, even surpassing the Sanhe area, ranking third after Guanzhong and Qidi.

However, the reason why the freight throughput is so high is mainly due to the existence of border markets.

As a unified nomadic regime, the Xiongnu was quite astonishing in size. If trade was completely liberalized, the trade demand for that year would probably exceed that of Qidi.

Of course, completely letting go is impossible.

By the time the Huns relied on trade with the Han Dynasty and their technology advanced rapidly, and they became so powerful that they could lift tables, then border market trade would no longer exist.

Rubbing his chin, Chen Luo didn't want to continue this serious topic, so he changed into a relaxed tone and said: "Of the houses we went to see today, which one do you think is better?"

"The courtyard of the He family in the west of the city is nice, and the layout is very suitable to my liking. The Wu family's house is the most spacious. As for the Huang family's house, it is lavish, but the decoration is too tacky. I'm afraid it will be used as a marquis residence. We need to do a lot of decoration, and the Luo family..." Li Xu commented one by one.

As a Mohist disciple, his aesthetics is quite good.

After all, they have to design many tools and utensils themselves. For their own use, they can put practicality first, but if they are handed over to the Mohist caravan for sale, they still have to have a basic sense of refinement.

"Your thoughts are so similar to mine. They are like the fruits grown on a branch. There is no big difference. The houses you think are good are the ones I admire the most." Chen Luo smiled. replied.

The two have similar opinions.

This has nothing to do with telepathy.

After all, the aesthetics of Mohist disciples in the field of architecture was greatly influenced by Chen Luo at that time, and they tended to prefer the "Suzhou garden style" aesthetics of later generations.

We respect natural beauty, spatial fluidity and artistic conception.

If we examine those houses according to this standard, their advantages and disadvantages will be very obvious.

"Okay, let's go to He Mansion, Wu Mansion and Liu Mansion tomorrow to take a closer look and discuss which one is the most suitable." Chen Luo made a decision.

"Okay." Li Xu agreed, reached out and patted the back of his neck, and shrugged, "My back is sore after this day, so I need to take a good rest first."

Chen Luo said helplessly: "Go, go, you can rest, I have to continue working."

Turning his head sideways, Li Xu asked, "Is it something related to the Imperial Academy?"

"Otherwise, is there anything else that needs me to deal with now?" Chen Luo smiled bitterly.

With the issuance of Liu Che's imperial edict, the inspection and examination system has been officially announced to the world.

The entire Han Dynasty is paying attention to this new system.

As for Taixue, a subsidiary product of the imperial examination system, it is also the focus of everyone's attention.

Therefore, in the past two days, Chen Luo actually seemed to be busy with house matters. In fact, while running around, he was constantly dealing with matters related to the preparation of the Taixue.

This is also the reason why he asked Li Xu to follow him.

According to their own standards, those talented people who have successfully graduated from Taixue and can serve as officials must not be nerds who only know how to recite classics.

People who cannot adapt to the actual situation and pronounce the law rigidly according to regulations are only suitable for research, but they are not good at handling complicated local affairs. It's like a woman who conspires with her husband to murder her husband, but fakes the scene to look like a burglary and murder.

If someone is rigid and listens to confessions without selectivity, he may come to wrong conclusions and let the real murderer go, resulting in a wrong case.

One wrongful conviction may affect several families, and the term of a county magistrate is at least two or three years. During this period, confused officials have caused dozens or even hundreds of wrongful convictions. I am afraid that the local folk customs will be greatly affected. .

It’s not easy to develop the ability to be meticulous and adaptable to changes.

Therefore, Chen Luo did not intend to train all those who entered Taixue to be like this. On the contrary, he planned to select such true talents from those people.

Generally speaking, people who have more "knowledge" will be more attentive and able to adapt to complex situations.

Of course, the "knowledge" here does not only refer to academic knowledge, but to knowledge in a general sense, which is suitable to be called "skill".

Insight, eloquence, and even personal prowess, and so on, are all included.

As an official, the difficulties you encounter may come from all aspects.

Those thieves who commit crimes seriously and in accordance with the law are in the minority.

Once the trivial matters between parents are discussed, it is difficult to reach a conclusion.

In such situations, those who uphold justice need to have strong judgment.

Where does this judgment come from?

They need to rely on their own journeys in life, the world they have seen, and the lessons they have encountered... to accumulate skills bit by bit.

As for how to screen, it needs to be investigated in many aspects.

There are many teaching contents that Mohist disciples can be responsible for.

When it comes to interpreting classics, they are inferior to Confucianism, and when it comes to transcendent external objects, they are inferior to Taoism.

But when it comes to practical operations and calculations, Mohist disciples are fully qualified to serve as teachers to teach the talents recruited in the academy.

Chen Luo had previously invited Li Xu to become a doctor of Taixue, but it was far from enough for him alone.

Even not counting the children recruited later, the number of students in Taixue is at least more than two hundred.

This is related to the teaching effect.

Group teaching in a large class is definitely not as effective as a small class with thirty or forty people, or even a dozen or so people.

What's more, Mohist's teaching content pays great attention to practical operations.

If there are many students in a class, a single teacher will definitely not be able to take care of everyone.

But if the teaching is divided into small classes, Li Xu will definitely be too busy by himself.

Even if he works continuously every day, it will take half an hour to teach all the content in one class.

But two to three hundred people were divided into small classes, that is, seven or eight small classes. They needed to teach every day, and Li Xu was required to work from morning to night without stopping for a moment.

Such high-intensity teaching work is definitely beyond the capabilities of an individual.

Therefore, recruiting a few more Mohist disciples to come to Taixue and serve as doctors of Taixue could share the burden on Li Xu and reduce the pressure.

Of course, my own requirements are equally high.

Those Mohist disciples who came to Chang'an to serve as doctors of Taixue must be outstanding enough.

Chen Luo did not want the situation of misleading his disciples to happen in the Imperial College he was in charge of.

After all, Taixue is the highest academic institution in the country and represents the face of the Han Dynasty.

Those who hold positions in Taixue are the face of the school behind them.

If there are any omissions in the Mohist disciples he recruited, it will not only prove that there is something wrong with Chen Luo's work, but will also bring shame to the Mohist family and make the Mohist family suffer ridicule from other schools of thought.

The requirement given by Chen Luo is to strive for excellence.

Li Xu was also very cautious when he made the list.

He took into account various factors such as age, experience, teaching attitude, etc., and finally confirmed the list of people in the Mo family who were suitable to come to Chang'an to teach.

There are sixteen people in total, ranging in age from thirty to forty-five, which is when they are in their prime, most creative and energetic.

When these people arrive in Chang'an, Chen Luo will assess them and have the quota to keep five of them. If there are particularly outstanding candidates, one or two more quotas will be available.

Then these people stayed in Chang'an and became real doctors of Taixue.

These Mohist disciples are part of the Taixue Doctors, but not all of them.

Taixue needs more excellent mentors to teach the talents who come to Taixue, and it cannot be limited to one sect or sect.

Even if the grand occasion of the "Hundred Schools of Thought" at Jixia Academy cannot be replicated, more ideological collisions would be a good thing for the entire Chinese ideological and academic community.

The remaining candidates for the Taixue Ph.D. are not like Li Xu, who can directly give a list and choose from them. Instead, they need to search slowly and carefully.

Of course, Chen Luo needed to consider the preparations for Taixue, in addition to selecting doctors, he also needed to select a site.

And when he chose a residence for himself these days, he took a long walk around the entire city of Chang'an. He visited all the places he had never been to before in the past two days.

This is not just a quick glance, it's over with a simple glance.

Thinking of this, Chen Luo rubbed his chin, took out a pen and paper, and began to sketch the administrative map of Chang'an City.

However, the content he sketched was quite brief.

Only select the key content that you need, such as the administrative impact of establishing Taixue in this area, and how much open space can be used. Combined with the memories of the past few days, we quickly eliminate unsuitable sites and finally What remains is a suitable location for Taixue.

About two-quarters of an hour later, Chen Luo put down his pen with satisfaction, stretched and breathed a long sigh of relief.

To be honest, my house viewing plan these days is "killing three birds with one stone".

First, he selected a few mansions that he was relatively satisfied with.

Secondly, he had full communication with Li Xu during the process, which laid a good foundation for recruiting Mohist disciples to serve as doctors of Taixue.

Finally, I traveled to most of Chang'an and fully thought about the location of Taixue.

Chen Luo now has a clear idea.

He had his eye on a piece of land.

(End of this chapter)