Ordinary craftsmen didn't know much. They only knew a little about these mobile houses. After explaining, they couldn't satisfy the people of the Beijing Evening News. If they couldn't figure things out, they would definitely not write well when they went back. They would be scolded. At this time, not only did the Beijing Morning and Evening News derive from the Tang dynasty, but there were also some tabloids created by nobles and big businessmen.
Of course, the official newspapers in charge of the imperial court were far more competitive than ordinary tabloids in terms of resources and sales. However, they still had to be prepared for danger in times of peace. Since the imperial court linked the salaries of the employees of these departments to benefits, the leaders and employees of these units were like on steroids. They were obviously much more enthusiastic about work, especially the leaders. After all, the leaders had the highest salary. If they were evaluated according to performance, these leaders would also get the most benefits. Therefore, they were the most enthusiastic. When they encountered subordinates who didn't do a good job, they would generally not be polite and directly dismiss them to ensure their own interests.
"Who are those people outside? It's so noisy and annoying."
Ang Lee heard the noise in the room and asked.
"Assistant Minister Li, they're from the Beijing Evening News. According to the imperial court's regulations, they can enter the yamen with their identity. They can't be stopped without reason."
One of the subordinates said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "Oh, so they're from the Beijing Evening News! It seems that they're here to look for news. Let's go and have a look. "
When he went out, he saw several craftsmen talking to the people of the Beijing Evening News. Because these uncouth men's ability to express themselves was not very good, there was a lot of resistance when they communicated, so they unconsciously raised their voices.
This was also human nature. When communication was blocked and the other party couldn't understand what they were saying, they would become impatient and raise their voice, hoping to use a louder voice to make the other party understand what they were saying. However, this often went against their wishes. Raising one's voice didn't make it easier for the other party to understand what they were saying. On the contrary, raising one's voice would make it harder for the other party to understand what they were saying. They would even get angry and raise their voice. As a result, their conversation wasn't like a normal conversation, but more like an argument.
"What are you arguing about? Why are you so loud? "
Li An walked over gently and looked at the group of people from the Beijing Evening News.
They hurriedly saluted and stated the purpose of their visit.
"Oh, it's such a small matter. Is it worth talking about it for so long? You guys are really stupid. You can't even explain such a small matter clearly."
Ang Lee looked at his subordinates and reprimanded.
After that, Ang Lee roughly explained the mobile home to them. After they understood everything, he sent them away.
After that, a few other tabloids also came to interview him. Li An took the trouble to explain and wanted others to do it for him. However, these people who did the work were too dumb and couldn't explain it clearly at all. Only Li An's personal explanation was satisfactory.
In the afternoon, Ang Lee went to the Daming Palace as promised. He was ready to settle this matter. However, Ang Lee felt that some people might object to it. Even if Ang Lee was opposed to something he had already decided on, he would fight for it and settle it thoroughly.
At the gate of the palace, Ang Lee met more than a dozen ministers. They were all high-ranking officials of the Tang Empire. All the officials of the Political Affairs Hall were present. Some third and fourth rank officials were also present. This matter was not a small matter. Naturally, he needed to listen to the opinions of more ministers.
"Haha! Assistant Minister Li is also here! "
"Assistant Minister Li, I heard that you brought three carriages that look like houses to the palace early this morning. What kind of important invention is this? Can you tell us in advance?"
"Yes! Yes! What are these carriages that look like houses? What kind of important invention is this? "
Several ministers said.
Ang Lee's expression was not very friendly as he said, "Hey! It's all your fault. If it weren't for your obstruction, the construction of the guaranteed housing in the capital wouldn't be so slow. Don't you know that there is a shortage of housing in the capital now? Many people have to fork out half of their salary to pay the rent. This pressure is too great. The people can't live anymore. "
"Oh my, Assistant Minister Li has wronged us. We are also doing things according to the rules. We have never deliberately delayed it!"
"Yes, yes. It's not that we don't want to speed up some things. It's really difficult! We have to do it step by step according to the rules of the imperial court! "
"It seems that Assistant Minister Li has a deep misunderstanding of us! We are also officials of the imperial court. We are paid by the imperial court. How can we not share the imperial court's worries? We are also very worried that the people don't have a place to live. "
"Oh, it's not only Assistant Minister Li who worries about the country and the people in the court. Our hearts are the same as Assistant Minister Li's. We all hope that the people can live a prosperous life."
"We are all sincere, but we have been misunderstood by Assistant Minister Li. How can we not be disappointed?"
The group of ministers boasted shamelessly.
Ang Lee knew the faces of these fellows the best. He was very clear about what their hearts were like.
These fellows were more concerned about themselves than the lives of the common people. They spoke for the interests of themselves and the nobility. They disdained the interests of the common people. They all felt that it was enough for the common people to have a bite to eat. They could not, did not need, and did not have the right to have high demands. They seemed to think that it was acceptable for the craftsmen to pay half of their wages for rent. After all, the remaining half of their wages was enough if they lived frugally. They could eat and drink a little every month and pay the rent. If they ran out of money the next month, they could continue to earn money. Wasn't the life of the poor supposed to be like this?
This was the Legalist ideology that had begun with Shang Yang. There was a famous saying in the Legalist ideology that said, 'The country is weak and the people are strong. The people are weak and the strong are weak. Therefore, there is a country that focuses on the weak … the people. If they are disgraced, they will be noble. If they are weak, they will be respected. If they are poor, they will be rewarded.'
The meaning of this sentence was to tell the monarch that only when the common people were poor and weak could the country be prosperous. Only when the common people were humiliated, weak, and poor would they value titles, respect rights, and value rewards. Obviously, these words advocated heavy exploitation and oppression.
Some people in the court of the Tang Dynasty obviously accepted this idea. They felt that the weak people were the foundation of a stable rule. It was enough to let the common people have enough to eat and drink. They could not let the common people at the bottom be too rich. Otherwise, if their monthly income could support their family's expenses for a year, they might not be willing to work for the rest of the time, which would cause a great waste of resources. When everyone was unwilling to work, the empire would not be able to develop and would fall into an unsustainable situation.
This was indeed reasonable, but everything should not be overdone. It was not wrong to let the common people be poor so as to motivate them to work harder, but it was not right to squeeze the common people until they had nothing. At least, the common people should have a more objective surplus so that they would not panic when they had money in their hands. That would be the best.
Judging from the current situation in the capital, the wages of craftsmen were still okay, but renting was too expensive. Therefore, some craftsmen who were not very skilled had almost no surplus at all, and those skilled craftsmen did not have much surplus either. Only those who had a lot of household labor could have a good surplus of money. However, when there were too many people, they could not live in one house, so they could only choose to rent another one.
As a result, there was no surplus of money left. This situation caused some people who came with hope to leave the capital. That was to say, the people with the lowest standards were forced to choose to leave. This was obviously not good for the prosperity of the capital. At the same time, some workshops had to slightly raise the wages to attract better craftsmen to work. However, as soon as the wages increased, the rent also increased. The extra wages were directly swallowed by the landlords, which made many craftsmen feel quite miserable.
A raise in salary was a very happy thing for many people, but for the artisans and other migrant workers in the capital, the excitement of a raise in salary could not last for long before it was shattered by the cruel reality. This was because not long after the raise in salary, there would be an increase in rent. Sometimes, the increase in rent was even more than the increase in salary. This was something that could be endured. The wages in the capital were not low, but once the rent was deducted, it was not high. In fact, it was even lower than some county cities. In this way, it was not very attractive. The people were not stupid. No one would calculate how much they could earn. Instead, they would calculate how much they could save.
"Hahaha! It seems that I have misunderstood my colleagues. Since you all have the same heart as me and love the common people, then when we enter the palace to discuss politics later, you all should be of the same mind as me. "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
"That's for sure. We also hope that the common people can live a prosperous life and live and work in peace and contentment. Haha!"
"Assistant Minister Li is right. That's what we all think."
"Assistant Minister Li, can you tell us something first so that we can be mentally prepared?"
The ministers all opened their mouths.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "Don't you all know? It's a moving carriage that is like a house! It's more appropriate to call it a moving house. The common people have too much pressure to rent a house. If they live in these moving houses, the pressure will not be so great. "
"A moving house that is only the size of a carriage. How can people live in it? It's too childish!"
"Although the common people are poor, they can't live in a carriage for a long time! It's too insecure. "
"If they fall asleep, won't there be a possibility that the person and the carriage will be stolen? That's too scary."
"Is Assistant Minister Li serious to come up with such an idea?"
"It's just the common people. It seems that they can tolerate it."
Most of the ministers did not quite agree. They felt that it was not good to let the common people who had no place to live in temporary moving houses.
Ang Lee said unhappily, "It's only temporary. It won't be like this forever. At this time, the housing in the capital is extremely tight. If you all can think of a better idea, you can tell me. I will immediately cancel these moving houses and never mention it again in the future. How about it?"
When the ministers heard this, they all fell silent. They didn't have any better ideas. Some of them were the beneficiaries of the housing shortage. In their hearts, they didn't want the housing shortage in the capital to be solved, or at least it couldn't be solved too thoroughly. Otherwise, the houses they hoarded would be ruined.
How could Ang Lee not know what these guys were thinking? However, he absolutely could not ignore the interests of the poor in order to take care of these guys. More importantly, he could not harm the future development potential of the capital. If he wanted to keep the people, he must provide a very suitable living environment and reduce the cost of living in the capital as much as possible so that every common person in the capital could live with a reduced cost of living. At present, they had to pay one-third to half of their salary to pay the rent. It was too expensive for ordinary people to bear. It would definitely be unbearable in the long run.
The most important thing was that the anger in their hearts would be greater, and they would have a strong sense of unwillingness and unfairness. They worked hard to earn money all year round, but in the end, most of their income had to be given to the landlord. Who could bear this? It was too unbearable. Once this unwillingness in their hearts continued to spread, it would be easier for them to walk on the path of lawlessness. Although the Tang dynasty had laws, in the face of survival difficulties, the deterrence of the law was greatly reduced. Who would care about the deterrence of the law when they were almost unable to survive?
As they talked, they arrived at Zichen Hall. More than 30 people entered the hall one by one, waiting for the Emperor. The highest officials were usually the last to arrive. The Emperor was the most powerful, so he naturally had to be the last to arrive. Only in this way could he show his identity.
Since the Emperor had not arrived yet, the ministers naturally would not stand and wait. The necessary chatting was indispensable. Ang Lee chatted with the senior officials of the Tang dynasty.
"Your Majesty asked us to come here today. What do you want to discuss?"
"Don't tell me it's about the house! Assistant Minister Li, what do you think? "
"This house that looks like a carriage also needs to be discussed. If Assistant Minister Li wants to build more, just do it. There's no need to ask us to discuss such a trivial matter!"
Several ministers spoke.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "You're right. What we want to discuss today is indeed related to housing. However, it's not just about the mobile houses. There's another thing related to housing. His Majesty wants to hear your opinions, so he invited you here."
"Oh, what's the other thing? Can you tell us? "
Everyone asked.
"His Majesty has arrived."
Just as everyone was about to ask, the Emperor arrived.
After a series of salutes, the Emperor directly asked Ang Lee to tell the solution to the housing shortage in the capital so that the ministers could listen and give their opinions.
Ang Lee first explained the benefits and functions of the mobile houses in detail. He also pointed out that the housing shortage in the capital was too severe. Although these mobile houses were not strong enough, they were a good idea to alleviate the housing shortage in the capital.
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