Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 373: New Outlook in the Capital

At 10 o'clock in the morning, Chen Sen, Li Han and other officials and generals passed through the new city of Chang'an under construction and entered the imperial palace from the Mingde Gate in the south.

The planned construction area of ​​the first phase of Chang'an New City is 180 square kilometers, 18 kilometers long from north to south and 10 kilometers wide from east to west. Four main city gates, Chunming Gate, Jinguang Gate, Mingde Gate, and Guanghua Gate, are built on the periphery of the new city as one of the landmark buildings of the new city.

As for the city walls that separated the urban area from the suburbs, they were temporarily shelved because of the development of modern warfare and the fact that ordinary city walls could not withstand the continuous bombardment of heavy artillery, in order to avoid wasting precious local labor on useless city wall fortifications.

On the other hand, in view of the important position of Chang'an City, the central government, after shelving the plan to build a new city wall, first built complete and detailed heavy artillery fortifications based on the four city gate buildings such as Chunming Gate and Jinguang Gate in accordance with the requirements of the overall war preparedness plan to guard the safety of the capital and the imperial city from different directions.

Secondly, Chang'an City is backed by the Cordoba Mountains and is located at the junction of the La Plata Plain and the northern mountains. The main threat it faces comes from the Chang'an-Songjiang railway line. Therefore, along the Chang'an-Songjiang railway, the central government planned four fortress groups in sequence to guard the east gate of Chang'an City.

The planning and development of Chang'an New City, the Imperial Palace and the newly occupied areas led to the rapid development of the construction industry. The scale of related industries such as cement, steel, bricks and stones expanded more than tenfold in three to five years. The construction materials originally planned for the construction of city walls were saved and used first in the construction of the Chang'an Imperial Palace and the Primero River Dam.

The construction of the Chang'an Imperial Palace started in the second half of 1879 and lasted for about two years until early August 1881. Sixty-five percent of the construction of the entire palace had been completed. The Zhongji Hall and Jianji Hall of the three major palace complexes of the outer court were completed and put into use a month ago. The main buildings of the three major palace complexes of the inner court, Changle Palace, Hanyuan Palace and Weiyang Palace, were completed, and there were about 120 ancillary buildings left for subsequent construction.

The construction of the Primero River Dam started one month later than that of the Chang'an Palace. By early August, the dam construction entered the final stage and it is expected that the entire construction task will be completed before December at the end of the year.

The construction plan of Chang'an New City is proceeding step by step. Different living areas and functional areas in the city have been established and improved one after another. The Primero Dam, which is responsible for ensuring agricultural water supply in the Gyeonggi region, is also about to be completed. ………………

With the general completion of supporting facilities related to urban life, residence and consumption, Chang'an New City has begun to show its emerging aura as the country's capital.

After a quick tour of the city, Li Han said to Chen Sen, Hou Taiyuan and the others, "The ancients often said that the capital was a prosperous place, but it was not easy to live there. In my opinion, the new city of Chang'an is similar to the ancient capital. Merchants from all over the country bring in rare and exotic goods. Daily grain, rice, oil and salt are 10% more expensive than in other areas. If it weren't for the salary paid by the court, even people like us would find it difficult to gain a foothold in the capital."

"The situation in the Han Kingdom is stable, and the country's development momentum is booming. Many local merchants and foreign merchants from Germany, France, Venezuela, Colombia and other countries have set up business stations in the capital. They want to rely on the capital's advantage of being well-informed to obtain the latest political trends of the central government at the first time, and then formulate industry development plans that meet the policy requirements of the central government earlier than their competitors, making careful preparations for ultimately obtaining considerable economic benefits."

Chen Sen recalled the local and foreign businesses he had seen along the way, and said with a smile, "The country is developing well, which has driven the local economy. At the same time, the prosperity of industry and commerce has brought ample fiscal and tax funds to the government. The two promote each other. The more developed the commercial economy in Beijing is, the more beneficial it will be to the development of the country.
However, the influx of local and foreign merchants greatly raised the consumption standards and living costs in the capital. In the second half of 79, the army had just occupied the old city of Chang'an (formerly the old city of Cordoba). At that time, a house with two front and back entrances and covering an area of ​​about two acres would cost about 4000 Han yuan (equivalent to about 2000 taels of Kuping silver).
Now the price has quadrupled. My wife wrote to me a few days ago saying that she was planning to buy a more spacious house in the capital. She had her eyes on a western-style house with an area of ​​about four and a half mu, a garden, a yard, a wing room, and a fish pond. The owner wanted 3 Han Yuan. If my wife and three children hadn’t insisted on buying it, I would not have been willing to spend nearly half of my savings to buy the house from that greedy Songjiang (Buenos Aires) businessman.

"Based on the current situation in the capital, Brother Chen, do you think the price of houses will continue to rise? If the price of houses continues to rise in the future, I also plan to buy a house covering an area of ​​three or four acres in the capital, which will also make it convenient for me to bring my wife and four children to live in the capital."

Chen Sen's words aroused Li Han's interest. He explained, "Brother Chen, Brother Hou, and Brother Feng all know that the hereditary nobles who were granted fiefdoms two years ago were scattered in different areas of the country. Brother Chen and Brother Feng's fiefdoms are in better locations. One is in Jiangzhou and the other is in Chuzhou. They are not too far from the capital and can be reached in one day by train.

My brother Hou and I have fiefs in Yangzhou and Luozhou respectively. Although the climate and environment there are good and the sea transportation is convenient, it is inconvenient for my wife and children to reunite in the capital. It will take eight or nine days to go back and forth, including the transfers and delays. So if the price is right, I will write to my wife and ask her to come to the capital with several relatives at home, and arrange to buy a larger house in the capital to live in. "

"The price of houses in the capital should continue to rise, but you and I know your Majesty's character. It won't be long before the central government will enact a law to limit the rise in housing prices. At that time, it may restrict merchants from hoarding houses in large quantities, formulate more detailed living standards, and limit the disorderly growth of the capital's population."

"Your Majesty does have this idea. Two days ago, Minister Liu of the Ministry of Commerce, Minister Sun of the Ministry of Finance, and Minister Zheng of the Ministry of Personnel were received by Your Majesty, and you asked them to discuss the formulation of administrative laws and regulations on the capital's public security, commerce, and residential management. Among them, curbing merchants from randomly hoarding houses is one of the things Your Majesty emphasized. In another three or two months, the decree regulating the sale of residential houses in the capital should be issued."

Feng Guoan added, "After the introduction of the law regulating residential sales, residential prices will not continue to rise. However, it will be much more difficult to buy a suitable house at that time. If Brother Li cannot come up with extra money for the time being, General Wang and I can support you. According to the future development of the capital, I suggest that Brother Li buy a house as soon as possible. Otherwise, the longer you delay, the more troublesome it will be."

"Brother Chen and Brother Feng have a long-term vision. After I leave the court today, I will write a letter to my wife and ask her to come over early to resolve the issue of the house."

"It's better to do it early than to do it by chance. If Brother Li trusts me and Commander Feng, there's no need to go through all the hassles of buying a house. Let my wife and Commander Feng's wife ask around in the capital these few days and look at a few houses. When my sister-in-law comes to the capital, let her and them look around and buy whichever house they like."

"Haha, then I'll trouble Brother Chen, Brother Feng, and my two sisters-in-law to take care of it!"

"It's just a small matter. At worst, we can wait until Brother Li moves and prepare more wine and food to entertain our brothers in the army."

Chen Sen laughed heartily.

"I definitely won't forget to invite you all."…………

Several people entered the outer hall of the palace while chatting and laughing.

(End of this chapter)