Brother Song Taizu

Chapter 230
Autumn passes and winter comes, and winter passes quietly. In the blink of an eye, the Spring Festival is approaching again.

Although today's Kaifeng City has electricity, at least there are street lights in the inner city at night, and some stores already have simple, colorful neon-like signs, people still like to light up all kinds of lights on such festive nights. All kinds of lanterns and lanterns, showing off one's own joy.

In order to have fun with the people, Zhao Kuangyin still opened the palace gates as in previous years, so that every building in the palace was connected to the outside of the palace. People were also welcome to come in and play in the imperial garden, and the maids and eunuchs in the palace would also It’s a rare holiday to take turns, light lanterns and play at will.

It's just that this year is a little bit special. Not only the front hall is open to the people, but also the back hall, that is, the harem, has opened its mysterious door. Under the auspices of the queen, merchants of all sizes in Kaifeng City are welcome to visit the palace.

Then he personally introduced the layout, lighting, area, etc. of these palaces to the merchants, and introduced all the benefits of each palace. Finally, he said: "This imperial palace in Kaifeng is indeed smaller compared to the Han and Tang Dynasties, but it is There are advantages to being small, at least it occupies a delicate space, and there are details everywhere, every brick and tile, every plant and tree, that’s called attention to detail.”

The other concubines were similar. Except for Queen Mother Du, all the women did not care about their status as concubines and began to participate in sales as salesmen. After all, even the queen was in public, so what else could anyone be reserved about?In the early Song Dynasty, there was no such heavy defense between men and women.

Officials have said that the current palace in Luoyang is only an outline and general appearance. It is really big, but the shell has been built, and the filling inside has not yet been filled. And the money for filling the filling will all come from Everyone sells them out of the Kaifeng Palace.

Zhao Kuangyin is very pragmatic. Now that the capital has been moved, the Kaifeng Palace is actually useless. Even if he comes back occasionally, there is no need to live in such a big place. The Kaifeng Palace can If it's for sale, why not?Just because of the royal family’s reputation?

Anyway, he never felt that his face was valuable.

During the Han and Tang dynasties, the old palaces were not even thought of being sold. In fact, this was largely because the people did not have that much money at all, and they could not sell them at a high price. After all, the Han and Tang dynasties were not market economies, and private landlords bought up the houses in the city. The house is useless, and because the society is not a market economy, it is useless for the country to ask for so much money, because during the Han and Tang Dynasties, the court did not spend any money on materials and labor.

The Song Dynasty was different. After he announced that river workers would be given money, Zhao Guangmei carried forward this policy. Now in the Song Dynasty, everything needs money. The court has no money, so it has to borrow money from the money bank, and the money bank really takes money from the court. If you don't repay the interest, the money bank will change its dynasty.

It seems that they are richer than before in the Han and Tang Dynasties, but they also spend much more money than in the Han and Tang Dynasties. If they really want to do something big, the gold and silver in the treasury seems not enough. , which requires careful planning.

Therefore, the imperial palace in Kaifeng must be sold at a good price!
Those houses in the harem are really going to be sold to local tycoons and converted into villas. The money from the sales will be used to renovate the palace in Luoyang. The palace in Luoyang is so big. The application of new construction technologies such as reinforced concrete and concrete has made them all three-story duplexes. , the living area of ​​these concubines increased at least five or six times.

How to decorate and fill the extra five or six times the area depends on what price each of them can sell their original palace. Zhao Kuangyin said that he would not take away a penny from the price of selling the palace, but he also lost a penny. No replenishment.

No, taking advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity during the Chinese New Year, the concubines turned into sales ladies one after another, which is called meticulous and enthusiastic.

Of course, in fact, the target customers who can buy a villa in the harem are the major shareholders in the business firm who can sit on the board of directors. Almost all of them are retired Jiedushi. Of course, they understand this truth.

But in the same way, what you buy for a house is status and face. The more envied other businessmen are, the more those old guys will feel it is worth it when they buy a house, and the price will be higher, especially when there are so many Which palace can be sold more expensively?In fact, this really doesn't depend on those who pay for it, and it's a matter of speculation. Females like them also understand this truth.

The most important thing is that how much the harem is sold for will inversely determine how much the front palace is sold for.

After all, the front palace and the back palace are different. These palaces are not residential but functional. Except for Duanwen Palace, which will be retained and converted into a library, the other palaces will be rebuilt into small high-rise buildings, and part of them will be allocated to The commercial bank was built into an office building and used as an office area, and part of it was built into a high-end duplex building.

This kind of small building can be afforded by private businessmen.

If you can't afford it, just take out a loan. Anyway, the house prices in Kaifeng have been rising. Put a little pressure on yourself and buy a house here. You will be the real master of Song Dynasty, the real top among the top. !
Although off-plan properties are also sold, and a conceptual model is now available, they have not yet been officially launched for sale. However, it is said that the subscription price estimated by the public is already frighteningly high. If loans are allowed, the estimated transaction price must be astronomical. Figures, one square meter can buy a house outside.

Zhao Guangmei also specially set aside two of these houses to make apartments for scientists, and distributed them as rewards to those who have made contributions to science and technology, especially machine tools, such as senior technicians, machine tool design, agricultural improvement, etc. On the other hand, it can be regarded as a serious boost to the status of these workers.

On such a festive occasion, Zhao Guangmei did not stay in the palace to join in the fun. Instead, she traveled lightly, with only a dozen bodyguards following behind. On the rare occasion, she held Zhang Ling'er's hand and walked along the Bianhe River, looking at the river from a distance. The lights are brightly lit in the heart, and singing and dancing are in full swing, but it has its own fun.

I have to say that Kaifeng City has really changed a lot in the past few years, and it can even be said to be changing with each passing day.

"Husband, there seems to be a poetry gathering held by literati in front of you. My husband has always been very talented in literature. Would you like to join in the fun?"

"Me? Haha, let's forget about writing poems. We might as well join in the fun."

Zhao Guangmei didn't know how to compose any poetry at all, and his copying was pretty much the same. However, the poetry of the Song Dynasty has changed a lot nowadays. Instead of going in the direction of the graceful school like in history, it has become more and more heroic. The ones that are popular now are Li Bai was the first person to be praised by literati for his wild poetry, and most of his poems imitated Li Bai.

However, there were also many scholars who pretended to be crazy. Many of them wore their hair barefoot after drinking too much, and almost everyone learned how to dance swords. As a result, the security of Kaifeng declined a lot.

Zhang Ling'er's so-called poetry meeting was naturally not a serious poetry meeting. It was more like a group of strangers bragging to each other after getting drunk after eating at a food stall.

The whole of Kaifeng is now full of people feasting and having fun. To put it bluntly, the supporting facilities cannot keep up with the pace of city development. At this time, all major restaurants, restaurants, and even corner shops are almost full. Couldn't get a seat at all.

Throughout the year, ordinary people do have this basic desire to hold banquets, and under the condition of tight housing, ordinary families really do not have the conditions to invite a large table of people to dinner.

To put it bluntly, there are too many people in the city and too few restaurants, so food stalls have become a specialty of Kaifeng. In just the past two years, all food stalls in Kaifeng have appeared from scratch. There were two to three hundred of them, but they couldn't control them at all. During the Chinese New Year, the government further intentionally indulged, and some temporary food stalls like this couldn't help but increase in number. Naturally, they were not so formal.

For example, this restaurant doesn't even have serious tables and chairs. Anyway, the mainstream in the Song Dynasty is the meal-sharing system, so they simply made some very small pony seats for the guests to sit on, and also made some random wooden pillars and stools. Things like this are used as temporary tables, where food is placed, and each person can eat with a plate.

In this way, although the area is not large, it can still accommodate many people crowded together to eat and make a lot of noise. There is even room for Hu Ji to pole dance.

This thing is now considered a major feature of Kaifeng City. It is not easy to learn it well, but once it is bad, it only takes half a year, but Orchid has become a beautiful scenery in Kaifeng City.In such a special dining environment, people who don't know each other at two tables get to know each other while eating. After drinking some wine, it is easy to get into a bragging game. There are many students, schools, and commercial streets around the Bianhe River. It was designed here, so of course most of the people who come here to eat are students. Students drink and drink, and it becomes a poetry party. Then other students passing by see the excitement here and will take the initiative to join in. Eventually it became a non-standard poetry meeting.

Zhao Guangmei came forward with Zhang Ling'er, but she was not recognized. The waiter in this store was also very efficient. He was obviously sweating profusely from exhaustion. When he saw Zhao Guangmei coming in, he still greeted him enthusiastically. There were people behind him who were performing magic tricks. An empty wooden bench was obtained for him to add a table among the crowd.

Zhao Guangmei was also impressed by what he saw. This was his first time eating a food stall in Kaifeng. Even Zhang Ling'er was very interested. He was not annoyed by the noisy environment at all. Instead, he happily served the menu and started ordering. vegetable.

Even though this food stall is not big, it is packed with people. I didn't see the chef in the back, but there were more than a dozen waiters in front, and more than half of them were women.

Looking at the menu again, there is quite a lot to eat. I feel that the overall dining situation is a bit similar to a lunch box. There should be a fire on the stove after breakfast, but it can only heat the dishes. How does it taste? Anyway, it should be able to Although it is indeed not delicious, Zhang Ling'er ate it freshly and still enjoyed it with gusto.

Looking at the people in the field, well, they are drinking and drinking, changing cups and cups, and almost immediately someone will stand up and say: "Everyone, XXX, I have a new poem, please taste it."

Then no matter what kind of poems you write, everyone will applaud enthusiastically.

It's a good way to become famous, but today's Kaifeng doesn't have any shortcuts to the south like in the Tang Dynasty. It's useless to deliberately become famous. Naturally, this so-called poetry meeting is not so utilitarian, but it is quite a bit. Return to the true meaning of poetry.

There are not really many new words, and most of them are still reciting the old works of the predecessors, such as Li Bai, Li Bai, and Li Bai. Now Kaifeng has revived the Li Bai craze, reciting poems here, and accompanied by Hu Nu accompaniment there. , pole dancing.

But it made Zhao Guangmei feel very comfortable. Of course, he would definitely not be able to stand up and compose or recite poems.

"This brother, at first glance, he has a majestic appearance. My Excellency, Liu Jifeng, is from Jinan Prefecture. I wonder if I am lucky enough to get to know my brother?"

Not long after, a scribe actually came and sat down next to Zhao Guangmei, carrying a wine flask and a horse.

The bodyguards behind him were very nervous when they saw this, but Zhao Guangmei herself didn't care. Seeing that this person looked really dignified, she smiled and said, "My name is Zhao San. My hometown...is from Kaifeng."

"Are you a native of Kaifeng? Classmate, you are so elegant."

Students in Kaifeng may not go out to drink during the Chinese New Year. On the contrary, they are scholars who come to study from other places and like to be lively and group-friendly during this special season.

After all, transportation is inconvenient, and the total half-month holiday during the New Year cannot allow students from far away to go home for the New Year.

After the man said this, he greeted the waiter at Zilai Shudi and placed a low table for him. He only ordered a plate of soybeans to go with the wine, and then he chatted non-stop with Zhao Guangmei.

Seeing this, Zhao Guangmei guessed that this person probably recognized her, otherwise he wouldn't have behaved so shabbily.

Either he is a social bastard, or maybe this is already a special social culture among young students?
"Do you just want to eat beans?"

"Hahahaha, I am making you laugh, brother. I am poor, but during this festive season, I am short of money and empty in my belly. How about...brother, please treat me to something to eat?"

Zhao Guangmei was about to agree when he saw the waiter on the side who was cleaning the table for him and said: "Guest, please don't be fooled by him. He is so poor that he has been eating and drinking in my small shop all day. I was eating a plate of small meatballs at the table over there just now, and even this wine was leftover from the guests at the previous table."

Hearing this, the man was not angry. Instead, he laughed and said, "Brother, you are just laughing. I have had a big belly since I was a child. I can't eat enough, so I am eating and drinking here. I see." Brother seems to be a wealthy man. If brother is willing, you might as well invite me to have something to eat and drink. If brother is not willing, forget it. I'll watch you eat. Let's make friends and discuss some poetry and current affairs. It’s fate, isn’t it?”

Zhao Guangmei saw that he was obviously a poor person, but he still looked very confident. Even if he was exposed by the waiter in public, he was not angry at all. She couldn't help but find this person interesting, so she casually threw a ticket to the waiter and asked him to give it to her. The last one was the same as mine.

He asked: "I see that my brother's conversation does not seem to come from such a poor family. Why is he so poor?"

To put it bluntly, there can be no poor people who can afford to study these days. Although the imperial court has begun to subsidize education, after all, the time is still short. It is unlikely that the poor people who have been subsidized will appear in an institution of higher learning like Taixue. of.

You can't learn that fast.

The man didn't care much, waved his hand and said: "It's not the New Deal. Your Highness, King Qin, works vigorously and resolutely. Naturally, he can't see the suffering of the people like us. In recent years, the family's livelihood has been getting worse year by year. No, it's just That’s all it can be.”

After saying that, Zhao Guangmei and Zhang Ling'er changed their expressions, especially Zhang Ling'er, who seemed to still have a bit of murderous intent on his face, but he laughed again and said: "I forgot that you two are natives of Kaifeng. Come to think of it, you must be Do you admire His Highness the King of Qin so much? I broke my promise, I deserve to be punished, I deserve to be punished."

As he said that, he snatched Zhao Guangmei's bottle of wine, and dundundun drank the whole bottle in one breath.

"Little Er, add more wine!"

But Zhang Ling'er sneered and said: "It's okay to drink some wine. My husband and I will treat you as much as you want to drink today, but you can tell me how His Highness King Qin brought your family into ruin? If you can't tell me, So, I can't spare you."

(End of this chapter)