Ang Lee insisted on solving the capital's housing shortage first. Then, he would consider the expansion of the R&D Center. He had to start with himself and try his best to alleviate the housing shortage. He couldn't let the housing shortage continue.
When the R&D Center was first built, a large piece of land was circled. But now, this large piece of land was no longer enough. For this reason, he had to choose a new piece of land and build several branches dedicated to construction. If he wanted to further increase the manpower, he would have to continue to build the branches.
In Ang Lee's plan, the location of the next branch had been determined. It was naturally further away from the center of the capital. The construction this time was different from the past. First, he had to build a dormitory that could satisfy the needs of the craftsmen. Then, he would build a functional house. He had to solve the needs of the craftsmen first before he could start working.
The dormitory could be eight people to a room or a single person to a room. He could even prepare a room for some craftsmen to live in as a family. This was a big difference. Naturally, the fewer people living in a dormitory, the better. This way, living in the dormitory would be more comfortable. But this also meant that he had to pay a bigger price. If he treated the craftsmen too well, it would make some people feel uncomfortable.
Because the R&D Center and the supporting workshops required too much manpower, it wasn't realistic to prepare a separate house for a single person. But for the best craftsmen, it was more realistic to prepare a separate house for them. In addition, the living conditions of ordinary craftsmen could also be improved to a certain extent. He had to make the craftsmen's living conditions more comfortable as much as possible.
Ang Lee had written it very clearly in his plan. He would eliminate the dormitory that could accommodate eight people in a room. The dormitory of the new branch could only accommodate six people at most. The size of the room couldn't be reduced to increase the comfort. The high-level craftsmen would have to share a room with four people. As for the top craftsmen, they would have to be provided with a separate house.
The number of craftsmen was very large, and the density of the rooms couldn't be too high. As a result, the only way was to increase the height of the building as much as possible. Five stories obviously wasn't enough. It had to be at least eight stories high. In a place far away from the center of the capital, there was no pressure to build an eight-story residential building. Because the distance was too far, even if the height exceeded the height of the walls of the imperial palace, they wouldn't be able to see the capital. There was no possibility of spying on the imperial family, so it didn't matter if the building was taller.
In the cities of the future, the higher the residential building was, the more it showed that it was in the core area. Generally, the shorter houses were in the suburbs and villages. The houses in the city center were very tall.
But this didn't mean that the taller houses were more upscale than the shorter ones. In fact, it was the opposite. The taller the house was, the less comfortable it was to live in. The shorter the house was, the more prosperous the urban area was, and the land resources were scarce. Only in the suburbs, the land resources were slightly better. As a result, the suburbs naturally had the conditions to build the shorter houses. This was the most fundamental reason why the houses in the prosperous area were tall and the houses in the suburbs were short.
But in Chang 'an City of the Tang Dynasty, this situation didn't exist. Because the architecture of the imperial palace had been finalized, there was no possibility of changing the architecture of the surrounding imperial cities. In the huge capital, no house was allowed to exceed the height of the walls of the imperial palace. Otherwise, it would be against the law. In the Tang Empire, the emperor was high and mighty, and the rest of the people were inferior to him.
Fortunately, the imperial palace was located at the highest point of Longshou Plain, which had a huge advantage in terms of terrain. Therefore, even if a five-story building was built in the south of the city, the top of the building would not be as high as the walls of the imperial palace. Needless to say, the south gate outside the city would never be higher than the imperial palace.
Many buildings in the south of the city and outside the city were five-story buildings. The height of each floor was relatively short, much shorter than the average two-story house, but much higher than a person. An adult couldn't reach the roof even if he raised his hands, but he could touch the roof with a little jump. This height was already good. Living in it was not oppressive at all. It was the most suitable height.
But no matter what, these five-story houses built in and outside the capital were far less comfortable than houses with courtyards. Although these houses were relatively tall, everyone knew very well that these houses were for the poor to live in. The houses of the rich had at least three courtyards, which were considered super villas in the future. For example, Ang Lee's house was a super villa. It was just that this super villa was outside the city, and the real estate in the city was relatively small.
In fact, when he was industrializing, Ang Lee had already predicted that the housing prices in the capital would rise crazily. However, Ang Lee did not speculate in housing, because Ang Lee was not short of money, and it was impossible for him to live in a pigeon house without a courtyard, much less do something immoral like speculating in housing. Refusing to speculate in housing started with himself. This was Ang Lee's idea. No matter how high the housing prices in the capital rose, Ang Lee would not speculate in housing. Furthermore, he would do everything he could to stop the housing prices from rising. He would do his best to solve the housing shortage in the capital so that the people could have a house to live in and live comfortably.
Wasn't it great? This was Ang Lee's current pursuit. People pursued different things at different stages. For example, when they were very poor, they would do their best to pursue money. They would treat the pursuit of money as their greatest pursuit in life. They would even sacrifice everything else for it.
However, once the money they pursued was in their hands, continuing to have more money would seem boring. It was just like when one was hungry, one would have an appetite when one saw delicious food. However, if one was full every day and could eat any delicacy, then one's interest in food would decrease a lot. One would not have much interest in any delicious food. It was commonly known as getting tired of eating.
Making money was the same. If someone wanted to continue to make money after making a fortune, it could only mean that they did not have enough money in their hands or did not have a stable and reliable source of continuous income. Therefore, they would have such thoughts. If a person was rich enough and had a very reliable source of continuous funds, then his interest in money would continue to decrease, and he would even lose the motivation to continue to pursue money.
In this case, a person's life would change, and the things they pursued would change. For example, they would pursue something that they had neglected before, or they would want to help more people, or do charity work, or something like that.
Many rich tycoons in the later generations would often lecture young people. They felt that young people should not always be busy pursuing money, but should travel more and do more public welfare. This kind of life was the most meaningful. However, these tycoons did not feel the pain. They already had money, so naturally, they could pursue a new meaning of life without any worries. However, many young people did not even have a place to live, so they had to work hard to earn money. It was impossible for them to have the mind to do public welfare, and they did not have the funds to support themselves to travel. Of course, they would not agree with what these tycoons said. Every time the tycoons spoke, they would be scolded by the young people.
Only when a person's conditions were mature would he consider doing charity and travel to relieve boredom. In the absence of money, no one could do charity or travel. They could only stay at home honestly. They even needed to find a part-time job after work to make more money to supplement their family.
One's own conditions would limit a person's ideas. If a person wanted to see the world, he would have to stay at home all day. Ang Lee obviously did not belong to this kind of person. Ang Lee was already rich enough, and his family's workshop was even more profitable. The degree of his wealth was something that even the emperor could not compare with. This kind of continuous wealth made Ang Lee not have to think about making money as a whole. If one did not have a goal in life, what was the meaning of living? If one wanted to live meaningfully, one must have a clear goal. And Ang Lee's goal was to let all the people in the Tang dynasty live a carefree and happy life. At least, he wanted to let the people live a better life as much as possible and let them have the most basic happiness.
In order to make the people happy, the first thing to be solved was the most basic aspects of clothing, food, shelter, and transportation. The problem of clothing was no longer a problem with the large increase in cotton production, and it was also the easiest problem to solve. Food was also completely solved now. There was no starvation in the entire Tang Dynasty. Even if they were out of work and had to beg for food, they could still eat their fill. Many people had no idea what it was like to be hungry, especially the newborn children. At least they could eat their fill. It was just that the children from poor families did not eat well enough. For example, children from rich families ate eggs, meat, and pastries, while children from poor families ate sweet potatoes and sweet potatoes, but they could definitely eat their fill. The only difference was whether the food was good enough and whether the food was nutritious enough. This was something that needed long-term efforts to improve. It could only be improved step by step and could not be rushed.
More than half of the housing problems in the Tang Empire were in the capital. The housing problems in the other big cities could not be compared with that in Chang 'an, which showed how severe the housing situation in Chang' an was. Naturally, Li An had something to do with Chang 'an. Because Li An was here and had set up a research and development center with 200,000 to 300,000 craftsmen. Every time a new machine was developed, the population would increase. Over time, the capital was overcrowded. Although the other big cities also had machine workshops, they were all workshops that were inconvenient to set up in the capital. For example, the ship-building workshops on the coast of Laizhou could not be set up near the capital, or they could only build small ships. Large ships could only be built in the harbor of Laizhou. There was no other way. If the capital was on the coast, Laizhou would have nothing to do with it.
The land price in the capital was already very expensive, much more expensive than in many big cities. The wages of the labor force were also higher than in all cities. But why did people still like to gather in the capital to open workshops? This was naturally because the capital had already formed a relatively complete industrial system. If the workshop encountered any problems, it could be easily solved. But in unfamiliar small cities, not only were the raw materials difficult to solve, but the malfunctioning machines were also difficult to solve. The capital's ecology was good, which determined that people were unwilling to leave the capital to develop elsewhere.
Some of the more important machines developed were directly made by the craftsmen in the R&D Center, while some of the less important machines were directly sold to the merchants and nobles who needed them so that they could enjoy opening workshops. This could also reduce the burden on the R&D Center. Otherwise, if the institution was too big, just management alone would be very tiring, and the possibility of corruption would be greater. Directly selling the technology to the merchants and nobles, letting them manage it themselves and be responsible for their own profits and losses, could also reduce the burden on the imperial court and prevent the R&D Center from becoming too big. An institution of two to three hundred thousand people was already very big. If all the machines were built by the craftsmen, it was estimated that the R&D Center would gather one to two million people, which was almost twenty to thirty percent of the capital's population. This was too big, and it was too difficult to manage. Ang Lee hoped that more of the less important technologies could be sold to the merchants and nobles, letting them be responsible for their own daily management, and more manpower in the R&D Center would be dedicated to the task of research. This way, the progress of research and development would be faster and better.
As for the problem of travel, it was also continuously improving. The current travel conditions in the Tang Empire were much better than before. Many bridges had been built on the Yangtze River, Yellow River, Ji River, and Huai River, so as to better connect the people on both sides of the river. The perfection of the railway system also allowed many people to reach their destinations in a very short time. The railway also played a great role in promoting the development of commerce. In short, the travel conditions were much better.
The four aspects of clothing, food, housing, and transportation were all in the process of continuous improvement. In most areas, these four aspects had made great progress. Only some areas had encountered some problems with housing and transportation. For example, there were problems with transportation and housing in the capital.
In order to solve the travel problems of the people in the capital, Ang Lee proposed the idea of underground parking lots and underground passages. In order to solve the housing problems in the capital, Ang Lee could not remember how many measures and methods he had proposed. The travel problems were relatively easy to solve, but the housing problems were more difficult to solve. This was because all the people in the capital would benefit from the solution of the travel problems. Whether it was the wealthy nobles, merchants, or ordinary people, they were all the same. They all needed roads.
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