After Li Jue's earnest persuasion, a group of holdout residents in Qunxianfang finally decided to move.
Of course, Li Jue's promise would not be broken. He had even ordered people to survey the terrain in Chongrenfang and Buzhengfang in preparation for buying land.
As he said, once this affordable housing complex is built, all the low-ranking officials of the Tang Dynasty will be his tenants and will have to owe him a debt of gratitude.
If he ever encounters trouble in the future, these people will have to help him!
After dealing with the matters at Qunxianfang, Li Jue returned to Lizhengdian, took a quick bath, and went to sleep.
Li Er followed Li Jue back to the palace. He stayed in his Ganlu Hall for a while and felt more and more uneasy. Why should he, the emperor, be responsible for these low-ranking officials not having houses?
Since the beginning of time, I've never heard of an emperor building houses for his officials!
However, when Li Shimin arrived at the Lizheng Hall, Li Jue was already fast asleep in bed.
Li Shimin, with eyes full of tenderness, tucked the blanket around Li Jue, then waved his fist at the soundly sleeping Li Jue, made a few ferocious expressions, and then turned and left angrily.
He had only taken a few steps when he passed the desk and stopped abruptly.
The reason was simple: he was drawn to a few pages of letters on his desk.
"Your subject, Zhou Zhengqing, submits this petition with tears of blood!"
"I have been orphaned and destitute since childhood, but I am fortunate to have gained Your Majesty's favor and been promoted from humble beginnings. I wish to repay Your Majesty's kindness by doing my utmost to repay you. However, I am short of money and have rented a house from the Minister of Revenue, where my whole family can rely on you."
"However, just as I was about to express my gratitude for His Majesty's kindness, I unexpectedly offended His Highness the eldest grandson."
"In an attempt to force me to return the house, the eldest grandson of the legitimate wife resorted to all sorts of means to insult and threaten me... I could not bear the harassment and had no choice but to resist with my life..."
Upon seeing this, Li Shimin immediately slammed his fist on the table.
"This is outrageous!"
"It was clearly my decree that was issued; what does it have to do with my eldest grandson!"
"That fool, instead of cursing me, he dares to threaten my grandson with suicide. He is truly despicable!"
"Guards, bring Zhou Zhengqing to me. I want to ask him how he wants to die!"
Just as the Hundred Cavalrymen were about to arrest someone, Li Jue jumped off the bed.
"Wait!"
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin forcefully pushed Li Jue away.
"Don't stop me! I must avenge you today!"
Hearing this, Li Jue felt even more annoyed, thinking to himself, "Where were you all this time? Now you're causing trouble."
“Grandpa, Zhou Zhengqing already has a terminal illness. Today, Senior Brother Sun and I barely managed to pull him back from the brink of death. If you send the Hundred Cavalry to arrest him now, you might just scare him to death!”
"What?"
"You went to save him today?"
"yes!"
"Didn't you see Zhou Zhengqing's suicide note framing you?"
"I saw it!"
"Then why did you save him?"
“Grandpa, it’s his business to frame me, but it’s my problem to stand by and watch someone die. I can’t let a fly ruin my character, can I?”
"This...this..."
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin looked at Li Jue with a face full of surprise. At that moment, he even felt that Li Jue was radiating light, the light of a sage that appears only once in a century!
"You...you really think that way?"
"certainly!"
"Zhou Zhengqing can die in many ways, such as by the law or by an accident, but he cannot die because of my failure to save him!"
Li Shimin smiled with satisfaction upon hearing this.
"Good boy!"
"Only today have I realized how noble your character is!"
"I will spare his life for now, so you can deal with him later!"
"I?"
"Do I have the right to punish him?"
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin's eyes darted around.
"That depends on your performance, hehehe!"
Upon hearing this, Li Jue rolled his eyes, thinking that Old Deng was probably going to go back on his word again. However, he had never taken Li Er's words seriously in the first place, and had never even considered becoming the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty.
"Grandpa, in a few more days all the houses in Qunxianfang will be sold out. Keep three million for military expenses, and give me the remaining one million. I'll use it to develop other places!"
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin immediately became interested, took Li Jue's little hand, sat on the bed, and began to dream.
"Grandson, you said we sold the houses in Qunxian Ward alone for four million strings of cash. If we were to rebuild all 108 wards of Chang'an, wouldn't that be..."
Upon hearing this, Li Jue quickly interrupted Li Er.
"Stop, Grandpa!"
"What's wrong?"
"Am I wrong?"
"Grandpa, you're completely wrong!"
"The reason why the houses in Qunxianfang are so expensive is because they are close to the West Market, and there are plenty of merchants from the Western Regions who are willing to pay for them."
"In addition, the Tang Dynasty had enjoyed a long period of peace, and merchants from the Western Regions had made a lot of money in the Tang Dynasty, but had nowhere to spend it."
"Therefore, once the houses in Qunxianfang were launched, and with favorable policies such as government assistance in settling down, it was able to attract so many merchants to come and buy the properties."
“If Aweng wants to develop all 108 neighborhoods in the same way, he will not only fail to make much money, but will also encounter a lot of problems.”
Li Shimin asked, puzzled.
"What's the problem?"
Li Jue took a deep breath and said.
"That means there will be no poor people left in Chang'an!"
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin tilted his head and looked at Li Jue.
"Grandson, isn't it a good thing if there are no poor people?"
"If I remember correctly, you have always been dedicated to making the people of Sanglin Village rich, haven't you?"
"I'm not trying to be mean, but can't you be a little more open-minded? The people of Sanglin Village are ordinary people, but the people of Chang'an aren't?"
Upon hearing this, Li Jue quickly shook his head.
"Grandpa, you've misunderstood me. What I mean is that Chang'an will become unsuitable for the poor to live in, and the poor will be driven out!"
"oh?"
Seeing that Li Shimin still looked bewildered, Li Jue could only patiently explain.
"Actually, this trend is already emerging."
"Didn't I distribute half of the houses to the original residents of Qunxianfang?"
"Yes!"
"But there's one thing that Grandpa certainly doesn't know: many people have rented out or sold their houses and moved to the countryside outside the city."
"oh?"
Why is that?
Li Jue gave a bitter smile.
"What else could it be? It's simply because the rent for the rebuilt houses is higher, and the selling price is also higher. With my house priced at 2,000 guan, they only need to sell it for 1,800 guan, and there will be plenty of people willing to take it."
"According to the prices in the Tang Dynasty, 1,800 strings of cash would be enough for them to become wealthy men in the countryside and own dozens of acres of land."
"Even if we don't sell the house, we can rent it out and earn several tens of dollars a year in rent, which is enough to support the family."
"this……"
Li Shimin still didn't understand, and didn't comprehend what this had to do with the imperial court.
"Grandpa, don't you understand yet?"
"Once the entire city of Chang'an follows the example of Qunxianfang, ordinary people will no longer be able to rent cheap housing!"
"Moreover, it will breed many property speculators who will drive up housing prices to astronomical levels before reselling them!"
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