The terrain around Chang 'an City was all in Ang Lee's mind. Where was suitable to build tall buildings and how many tall buildings could be built? Ang Lee only needed to go over and take a look to determine.
In the south of the city, there were many low-lying lands. Houses could be built higher in the low-lying lands. Even if they were built higher, they would not exceed the height of the imperial palace. However, if they were to build residential houses on higher ground, they would exceed the height of the imperial palace. This was not allowed.
Fortunately, the Imperial Palace was located at the highest point of the Dragon Head Plain. The terrain in the south of the capital was lower than that of the Imperial Palace. Some plots of land outside the southern wall of the city were even lower. The depressions along the Eight Rivers of Chang 'an were more suitable for building tall buildings because the terrain here was lower. There was no need to worry about building tall buildings exceeding the height of the Imperial Palace. As for the locations further away from the Imperial Palace, it did not matter much even if they were taller because they could not be seen at all. For example, any straw house on the Tibetan plateau was taller than the Imperial Palace, but the Emperor would not say that these houses were against the law.
In addition, another way was to dig the ground. Dig down a piece of land and dig out an open space with a lower terrain. In this open space, taller buildings could be built. The excavated soil could be piled up into an artificial rockery, thus increasing the scenery here. The people living in the houses could climb this mountain when they had nothing to do and stand at the top of the mountain to enjoy the beautiful scenery around them.
Of course, the digging could not be too deep. The drainage problem had to be considered. If the digging was lower than the elevation of the river, it would be really troublesome. In the future, seepage would become a big problem. The residents of the lower floors would suffer a big loss. Living in a damp house all day long would make anyone unhappy. Therefore, the drainage problem was a big problem that must be paid attention to. Only when this problem was solved could the construction of houses be done.
If they wanted to build a house that could accommodate more people on a limited piece of land, they had to build the tallest building possible. However, for many small traders, living in a high-rise building was very difficult. For example, many of the daily necessities of the small traders could not be moved upstairs, and it was very inconvenient to take them down. In the case of a high residential density, the space between the buildings was obviously not enough. For this reason, they had to build a basement specifically for parking. They even had to build a basement with two floors, one underground and one above ground. The height of each floor only needed to be slightly higher than the height of a person.
There was another advantage to doing this. That was, it could prevent the residents from being affected by moisture. As long as there were two floors of basements below, the residents on the lowest floor would not have a problem with moisture.
The reason why they considered building a two-floor basement was that if the basement was built with only one floor, the area allocated to each resident would be too small. Especially in the case of a higher floor, the area allocated to each household would be pitiful. It could only park a small car. If there were too many sundries, it really could not be parked. With a two-floor basement, the area of the basement that could be allocated to each resident was much higher. It could better meet the needs of each resident.
Due to the structure of the building, the size of each basement could not be exactly the same. Some were bigger, and some were very small. At the same time, the needs of the residents were different. Some were peddlers, and some were pure coolies. These two kinds of people naturally had different needs for basements. When buying, they would naturally have different choices. This could also better meet the needs of the residents. Some people might even not buy anything at all. This was also possible.
After the success of the development of cement and concrete, the officials of the imperial court also realized that the existing number of houses could no longer support the huge population of Chang 'an. Building multi-story buildings would undoubtedly better save the limited land and allow people to live more densely. Therefore, three or four-story buildings were already under construction, and many of them were sold or rented to ordinary people at the bottom. However, from the current situation, the speed of construction obviously could not keep up with the demand. Therefore, this caused the rapid rise of the housing prices in the capital, which brought a great challenge to the lives of ordinary people.
It was necessary to increase the speed of the building construction. At the same time, it was also necessary to consider whether to appropriately increase the height of the building. Previously, it was three or four stories high. At this moment, it should be increased a little. It was also feasible to add two or three more stories, as long as it was further away from the palace.
The higher the building, the more comfortable it would be to live in it. However, for some low-grade houses, it could not be considered so much. In Chang 'an, every inch of land was worth an inch of gold. In order to save costs, the height of the building in some areas really could not be increased. Even the front and back buildings were only two or three feet high. In this way, although the comfort would be greatly reduced, the cost would also be reduced. For the poor, if they could bear to live under a bridge, how could they not bear to live in dense housing conditions? As long as they could save money, such houses would definitely be favored.
For the people at the lowest level, cheap houses were the best. As long as they could live, the cheaper the houses, the better. As for the conditions, they really did not dare to think about it. The land in the capital was expensive, and it was not a remote mountain village. If they wanted to live comfortably, it was better to go to the countryside. In the countryside, not only were the houses spacious, the courtyard was big enough, and there was also a considerable vegetable garden in front of the door. The cost of living would be greatly reduced.
Since they had come to Chang 'an to make a living, naturally they did not have the conditions to be capricious. It was almost impossible to live in a spacious house. It was good enough to have a place to live. Living in the capital with the least money was the most economical way.
Of course, Ang Lee still wanted to listen to the opinions of the ordinary people. He wanted to see what the ordinary people at the grass-roots level wanted to see if he could not do it perfectly.
In the civilized society of the future, many laws and regulations for the grass-roots level were decided by the higher-ups without thinking. For example, a high-ranking official who had never ridden a bicycle before would set the standards for riding a bicycle. A person who had never been to a grass-roots unit would set the corresponding strange standards, thus causing the people at the grass-roots level to complain.
This was because when they set the rules, they always considered their own interests first and ignored the real needs of the people at the grass-roots level. In other words, in their eyes, their own interests were the most important, and the needs of the people at the grass-roots level were simply insignificant.
"You are right. The housing prices in the capital are high and the rent is expensive because there are too many people and too few houses. If we want to solve this problem, there are two ways. The first is to let some people leave the capital and reduce the population in the capital. The other way is to increase the housing in the capital and build more houses. In this way, the housing in the capital will not be so tight. Which way do you think is better?"
Li An looked at the few of them and said.
"Of course, it's to increase the number of houses in the capital. We came to the capital to earn more money. If we leave here and return to our county, we won't be able to earn so much money. We can't leave!"
"That's right! That's right! Everything is good in Beijing, and the money is much better than in the county. The only bad thing is that the rent is too expensive, too expensive. If we can build more houses in Beijing, it will definitely not be so expensive. There is still a lot of open space in the south of the city and outside the city, so we can just build more. The three or four-story houses in the south of the city are not bad, and a lot of houses can be built on a small piece of land. The rent for the houses there is also cheaper, much cheaper than the houses with one or two stories. Our family rents there. We rent the first story, which is more convenient, but the house is too small, and it is very crowded. "
"That's right! The houses in the capital are expensive because the land is expensive. Every inch of land is worth gold. If we build more high-rise houses, we can make the houses cheaper and build more houses. This is the best way. "
"That's right, that's right. There are too many people in the capital now, and the imperial court is building houses too slowly. There are many small houses with dozens of people living in them. When people live in them, they don't even have a place to move their feet. The house is full of stench, and it's hard to live in it. However, the rent for such a house is also relatively cheap. It's only 10% of a normal house, but this can only be rented by people who come to the capital alone. If a whole family lives together, they won't be able to rent such a house, so they have to rent a complete one. The price will be five times higher, or even more than ten times higher, and most of their income will be used to rent the house."
"I think so too. The empty land in the south of the capital should be built more tall houses. That way, more people can live in it, and the price will be much cheaper."
The group of people said one by one.
Ang Lee listened to their conversation and felt that their thoughts were almost the same as his. These common people at the bottom of the society really liked cheap houses. They all knew that the land in the capital was expensive, and they couldn't afford to live in an ordinary house with one or two stories. Only houses with three or four stories and above were what they could afford to rent. In the capital, Chang 'an, houses with three or four stories and above had almost become synonymous with the houses of the poor, and were welcomed by the poor in the capital.
"Three or four stories is still too short. If we build a house with five or six stories, would you still be willing to live in it? That might be cheaper. "
Ang Lee asked.
"Five or six stories, how high would that be? If the imperial court can really build such a high house, I'm afraid it's even higher than the city walls! It's really too high, I don't even dare to think about it. "
"Five or six stories, I think it's pretty good. As long as the price is reasonable, I'm willing to climb up every day. How long can I climb up a building? It's just a short while."
"The imperial court should have built such a high house a long time ago. There are so many people in the capital, how can three or four stories be enough? Even five or six stories might not be enough! They should build more. "
"What's the use of talking about this here? The imperial court won't listen to us. Anyway, the rich have a place to live. Why would they care where poor people like us live?"
The group of people said.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "Don't worry, the imperial court won't watch you suffer. The construction of five or six story houses should start next year. By then, the housing pressure will be a lot less, and you'll all have a house to live in."
"How do you know? May I ask who you are?"
"Sir, you know the high-ranking officials of the imperial court. One look at you and I can tell that you're not an ordinary person. You must know a lot of them!"
"Since you know, please tell us quickly! Let us have something to look forward to. "
Everyone asked anxiously.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "You guessed right. I do know the officials of the imperial court. They're also very anxious about the people in the capital having no place to live. They're all thinking of a way. Some suggested driving away a group of people, some suggested building more houses, and some planned to do both. As for building five or six story houses, there were also people who suggested it, and it was approved by many high-ranking officials. As long as the imperial court gives the final approval, construction can start after the ground thaws after the New Year. "
"Why, it's not decided yet?"
"What if it's not approved in the end? Won't we be happy for nothing?"
"Sir, how confident do you think you are?"
Everyone asked.
"Eighty percent, at least eighty percent. This is my promise to all of you. When the weather gets hot next year, let's wait and see!"
Ang Lee said confidently.
There was no problem in building such a tall building technically. Even building a house with more than ten stories would not be a problem. The only thing that needed was the approval of the imperial court. After all, this was Chang 'an, not a remote and poor ravine. You couldn't build whatever you wanted. If that was the case, wouldn't it be a mess?
However, Ang Lee was still very confident about the final approval of this plan. After all, the housing shortage in Chang 'an was so serious that it had to be taken seriously. It was too cruel to ask ordinary people to take out one-third of their income to pay rent. This would inevitably cause great dissatisfaction among ordinary people. If this dissatisfaction lasted for too long, it would be very detrimental to the stability of the entire empire. Therefore, many ministers were also thinking of ways to solve this problem, striving to solve it as soon as possible.
Therefore, as long as Li An proposed to build a house with a height of five or six stories, they would definitely support it. As for the problem of a house being too tall, they would need to slowly communicate with the Emperor. After all, the rules were set by people. All kinds of taboos could be changed. For the stability of the country, any sacrifice was acceptable. Moreover, it was not the first time that the imperial court had violated the rules set by their ancestors. For example, abolishing the curfew was a good start. There had always been a curfew before, but it had been abolished now. Therefore, why couldn't the height of a house be abolished? Wasn't it the same thing as abolishing the curfew? Anyway, Ang Lee thought it was the same thing.
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