Chapter 362: The Beile Mansion That Hasn't Been Seen in Ten Years
Under the anticipation of countless readers, the November issue of "People's Literature" was released as scheduled, and the second half of "The Ming Dynasty 1566" finally revealed its true face.
Just two days after People's Literature was on the market, it was flooded with reviews and letters from readers.
After more than a month of word-of-mouth fermentation, "The Ming Dynasty 1566" has become the ceiling of historical novels in the hearts of many readers.
Naturally, some people with ulterior motives will compare this novel with "Li Zicheng", which has previously won the Yanbing Literature Award, and Er Yuehe's "Emperor Kangxi", which is very popular.
The conclusion is that no matter from the plot of the novel itself, or its literary quality and ideological content, the latter two cannot be compared with "The Ming Dynasty 1566".
Some fanatical fans of this novel even shouted the slogan of "New Ming History".
In the past, Lin Weimin’s advice to such fanatical fans was always “beat them to death without mercy”.
From later generations, he understood the principle of "one fan is worth ten haters".
But when it happened to him, he thought, what was wrong with the readers?
If there are any mistakes, it's all my fault. I just blame myself for writing the novel too well.
The fault lies with me.
Let me bear the criticism from the outside world alone.
“Tsk tsk tsk!”
Yao Shuzhi was enjoying the letters from readers that had just arrived at the editorial office today. Her face was filled with joy. "These readers are getting more and more outrageous!"
Zou Changyi, who has just arrived at the editorial department, asked, "Are the readers of the previous editor-in-chief like this too?"
Yao Shuzhi thought for a moment and said, "It's rare. This time everyone is really praising Weimin to the sky!"
He Qizhi said: "But I don't quite understand. Weimin's novel is good, but I don't think it can compare to the sharpness and extremeness of Chasing the Murderer, which is more likely to win the readers' preference."
Liu Yin smiled and said, "You don't understand this, right?"
After hearing what she said, her colleagues in the editorial department immediately looked at her curiously, wanting to hear her opinion.
Liu Yin enjoyed everyone's attention and said, "When watching "Chasing the Murderer", as long as you can understand Wei Min's thoughts and creative intentions, you will feel refreshed, but watching "The Ming Dynasty 1566" is different."
Liu Yin paused here deliberately, and Yao Shuzhi asked cooperatively, "How is it different?"
"Many people who read this novel are interested in the history of the Ming Dynasty itself. Weimin told me a word the other day, which I think is very well used, called 'knowledge barrier'.
I can read this book, but you can't, which easily leads to a sense of superiority.
Besides, the novel "The Ming Dynasty 1566" is said to be history, but in fact it is a story about power struggles and reforms in the guise of history.
The threshold for real reading is actually not high.
But everyone thinks that this novel has a threshold to enter. Even those who study history recognize the content of the novel. To outsiders, it must be very impressive!
The sense of identity came naturally in my heart.
So it’s not surprising that these comments have appeared in recent days.”
After Liu Yin finished speaking, he leisurely took a sip of tea. His colleagues around him all agreed deeply.
"Sister Liu, what you said is very good!" Zou Changyi praised.
Yao Shuzhi sneered, "Do you really think that's what she thinks? I can tell from the sound of these words that Lin Weimin said them."
Liu Yin rolled his eyes at Yao Shuzhi and said, "That's boring!"
While his colleagues were discussing Lin Weimin and his novels, Lin Weimin was receiving guests.
"If you have time this afternoon, come with me and take a look. I guarantee you won't regret it."
Li Guangfu's face looked somewhat excited.
He has been looking for houses for Lin Weimin this year. When he wants to buy a large apartment, he doesn't need to come to Lin Weimin. He can make the decision on his own without asking Lin Weimin for permission.
But today is different, in the words of Li Guangfu.
"You wait ten or eight years, and you may come across such a good opportunity!"
Lin Weimin's heart was moved by what he said. After thinking for a while, he said, "Okay, I'll go right away. Wait for me!"
As he said this, he went to Qin Chaoyang's office to say hello, then took Li Guangfu out.
The car drove past Shichahai, onto Xizhimen Street, and stopped just as it reached Xinjiekou.
Lin Weimin asked uncertainly: "Is it this piece?"
"Here it is, right here!"
Lin Weimin found a place to park the car and got out with Li Guangfu.
Li Guangfu looked around at the entrance of the alley for a few seconds and said to Lin Weimin, "Teacher Lin, this is it, take a look!"
Lin Weimin looked in the direction of Li Guangfu's finger, and Li Guangfu introduced: "To the west is Gaojing Hutong. From there to the east, there is a row of houses leading to Sanguan Temple. To the north, it faces Yongtai Temple across the street. It is about 70 meters wide from east to west and about 80 meters long from north to south. These houses were all the residences of Prince Yongqi in those days."
"The first owner of the Beile Mansion was Mian Si, the fourth son of Yongyan, the eleventh son of Emperor Qianlong.
Prince Cheng Aisin-Gioro Yongyan was Jiaqing's elder brother. His mother was Empress Nara, who died young at the age of 25 without leaving any heir.
Qianlong ordered Yongzhen's fourth son Miansi to succeed Yongqi as his successor. In the fourth year of Jiaqing, Yongqi was posthumously conferred the title of Beile, and Miansi was gradually promoted to Beile in the eighteenth year of Daoguang.
Yongqi was not given a title during his lifetime and always lived in the palace without any mansion.
This mansion inside Xizhimen was built in the early period of Jiaqing, after Yongqi was posthumously conferred the title of Beile. At that time, Mian Si was only a general guarding the country, so the building regulations were relatively low. After he was promoted to Beile, he did not rebuild it according to the standards of Beile's mansion.
For the royal family of the Qing Dynasty, a Beile Mansion with such low regulations was just a piece of scraps.
But for us ordinary people, the Yongji Prince's Mansion is the height of the sky.
After liberation, this place became the second dormitory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Although it is now a slum, the buildings in the courtyard are generally well preserved.
If you buy it and tidy it up a bit, it will become a superb mansion."
After Li Guangfu introduced the situation of the Beile Mansion, he finally sighed, "In the past, who would have dared to think that such a mansion could be sold to ordinary people like us? Only the top dignitaries could live in it."
"Can we go in and take a look now?" Lin Weimin asked.
"Yes! I will show you around outside first. I want you to see the size and location of the house."
Lin Weimin nodded.
There is a flaw in what Li Guangfu said just now.
In fact, not only in the past, but even now and in the future, such a mansion is not affordable for ordinary people to live in.
After liberation, most of the famous princes', beile's and beizi's palaces in Yanjing City were confiscated and became offices of various government agencies.
After the mid-1980s, the government moved into new office buildings and these places became cultural relics protection sites, making them unavailable for purchase even if one wanted to.
Lin Weimin had all sorts of thoughts in his mind as he followed Li Guangfu into the gate of Prince Yongqi's mansion.
Li Guangfu first went in and found a man named Deng, who was the logistics director of the Academy of Sciences. Only then were they able to stroll around the yard smoothly.
The gate of Yongqi Prince's Mansion is a three-room, five-frame structure with a gray tile hard-roofed roof and a ridge. The main gate is vermilion and gold-pillared, with corbels on the top of the eaves and paintings on the horse-riding board.
Lin Weimin took a closer look and could no longer distinguish them. There were brick carvings on the eaves, but unfortunately they were covered with lime.
There are giant drum stones on both sides of the gate, three steps of bluestone vertical belts in front of the gate, and a bluestone corridor in front, leading directly to Xizhimen Street. There is a pair of horse-mounting stones in front of the mansion, and several iron rings for tying horses on the back eaves wall of the back house.
The buildings in the mansion are divided into three parts: east, middle and west. This is the standard configuration of a nobleman's mansion.
Inside the palace gate is the central outer courtyard, with a hanging flower gate in the front and moon gates on the east and west sides, from which you can enter the east and west roads.
The colored glass and exquisitely carved drum stones on both sides of the hanging flower gate complement each other, which looks very beautiful. There is a wooden screen inside the hanging flower gate, and the second courtyard is around it.
There are five rooms in the north of the courtyard, which is a flower hall, with corridors in front and back and doors in the north and south, also called a hall.
On both sides of the hanging flower gate are corridors, and the north end is connected to the front porch of the flower hall. Passing through the flower hall into a small courtyard, there is another hanging flower gate on the north side.
Entering this door again is the third courtyard. The northern house has five rooms with corridors in front and back, which is magnificent. This is the central building of the palace. It was originally an ancestral hall, and now it is also allocated for the staff of the Academy of Sciences to live in.
There are three east and west wing rooms in the courtyard, a standard quadrangle. There is a flower wall on the north side of the ancestral hall, dividing the mansion into two courtyards.
The middle of the backyard is at the northernmost end of the mansion. It is a large back garden with a dirt hill and a greenhouse. Unfortunately, it is now abandoned.
There are three rooms in the north of the west side of the earthen mountain, which were originally garden study rooms. There is a small house on the west side, which was the living room of the servants. The middle and west parts of the backyard are separated by a wall and connected by a door.
There are three courtyards on the west side, which is the main living area. There are seven houses facing the street in the front yard, as well as rockery and jujube trees. The houses facing the street on the east and west sides of the gate are the only southern houses in this mansion, which are used for servants to live in.
To the north of the front yard are two parallel courtyards. On the east side of the west road is a quadrangle with two entrances, with a hanging flower gate in front and three east and west wing rooms on both sides. Two of them are outside the hanging flower gate and one is inside the hanging flower gate.
Entering the Chuihua Gate is a courtyard with five northern rooms with front and back corridors, and three eastern and western wing rooms. They are more spacious and taller than the eastern and western wing rooms in front, and the two are connected by a mountain.
Further back is the second courtyard, with five rooms in the front, which are wide but shallow. There are two east and west wing rooms, and the doors are located on the outside of the south wall, which is also very rare.
The narrower yard on the east road was the stable in the past, where manned vehicles such as large saddle carts and ordinary mule carts, as well as mules and horses, were stored. Now, bungalows have been built for employees to live in.
After going around the house, Lin Weimin felt a little dizzy. Even the Beile Mansion covering an area of 5,000 to 6,000 square meters was like this. He really couldn't imagine how magnificent the princes' mansions must have been in the past.
I haven’t seen enough of the world!
Lin Weimin sighed in his heart, and the few of them walked back to the gate.
Director Deng asked with a smile on his face: "Teacher Lin, what do you think?"
The Prince Yongji Mansion was the second dormitory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, but it was not up to the level of a cultural relic. Now the Chinese Academy of Sciences is planning to dispose of this house and build new dormitories for the employees, and only requires foreign exchange.
When Lin Weimin heard Director Deng's question, he did not hide his thoughts.
"very good."
Director Deng laughed and said, "If you have time later, why don't you come to our hospital and have a detailed chat?"
"I won't go to your hospital. Can you handle the formalities?"
Director Deng's face was full of surprise. "Are you sure you want to buy it?"
Lin Weimin had a relaxed smile on his face. "In Yanjing City, there are not many opportunities to buy a Beile Mansion. If you miss this opportunity, you will never get it again. I won't hesitate."
"But this price..."
Director Deng paused when he spoke here. He thought of Lin Weimin's nickname, which was well-known in Beijing.
——Lin Baiwan, do you still need foreign exchange?
However, Director Deng was still amazed by the generosity of the person who didn't even ask about the price.
"The sale of this yard has to go through the department first, and the procedures may take some time," said Director Deng.
Lin Weimin nodded and chatted a few more words about the specific matters of the yard sale. One wanted foreign exchange, and the other had plenty of it, so they had a very pleasant conversation.
The Yongji Prince's Mansion covers an area of nearly 6,000 square meters, with three spans from east to west and five entrances from north to south. There are nearly 100 rooms in the courtyard, pavilions, towers, rockeries and gardens. Director Deng, on behalf of the Academy of Sciences, quoted Lin Weimin a price of 200,000 square meters.
If this price is calculated based on the cost of buying a slum, it would be extremely expensive.
For the Academy of Sciences, it is difficult for them to find an organization or individual to take over at such a high price. The most likely possibility is that they will sell it to foreign guests, overseas Chinese or patriotic businessmen.
Lin Weimin's appearance was just right. He was a Chinese and had ready-made foreign exchange, so the procedures were not that troublesome.
Not to mention the added bonus of the three words "Beile Mansion", just considering the magnificent scale of this mansion, the price of 200,000 Midao is very reasonable for Lin Weimin.
After all, I have been in Yanjing for so many years, and finally I live in a decent courtyard house.
After waving goodbye to Director Deng and walking to the front of the car, Li Guangfu reminded him, "Teacher Lin, spending 200,000 dollars to buy this house is just the beginning. I'm afraid you will have to spend a lot of money later."
The Prince Yongji's mansion had been divided into dormitories for more than 30 years. Although the buildings were generally preserved in good condition, so many years had passed after all.
If you want to restore the former splendor of the Beile Mansion, it will probably cost a huge amount of money.
Lin Weimin smiled and said, "I have already bought the courtyard house, do I still need this money?"
Li Guangfu thought about it and realized, when has Teacher Lin ever been short of money?
"Guangfu, you will have a heavy task next year!" Lin Weimin suddenly said while he was thinking.
Li Guangfu: ...
(End of this chapter)
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