Zhen Fei rises up in the Red Chamber

The auction method to release the stolen property, this is absolutely never happened in the capital, even looking for an example in the past, there is no way to find it, maybe it is because of this, so many things are a bit confusing I was dumbfounded. For example, the person explaining the value of the items was actually the owner of an antique shop. This made people very puzzled. When did a merchant actually participate in the affairs of officials?It's just that the reason is very good. Doesn't this mean respecting professionals? Besides, it really needs to find some officials to do it, and no one seems to be willing to do it. After all, it is a bit embarrassing for scholars. There is also a large gap in the accuracy of prices.So in the end, everyone can only acquiesce.Of course, this accountant must not be given up, and the old accountant of the Ministry of Finance is still in charge.

And this time the auction venue is absolutely speechless, it was actually arranged in the Gongyuan!For this, I don’t know how many old masters shook their heads and expressed their dissatisfaction. Unfortunately, the Ministry of Household Affairs has no way to deal with this matter. Whoever makes it impossible to find a suitable venue around here.

There are too many people participating in the auction, and the issue of fairness and justice must also be considered (this was specially requested by the emperor, in order to allow more people to participate and the land to be more dispersed.) So this tribute house became the most It’s a good venue. Every master who comes to participate has a small room for the scientific examination in the Gongyuan, which is the kind of three-foot-wide and three-foot-deep examination room. Not to mention the ready-made stools and tables, no one can see it. When it comes to the situation of other people next door, the security is higher and the competition is stronger. After all, if you can’t see anyone, you don’t have any chance of robbing your boss, and you can bid more freely.

Don't tell me, this Gongyuan, as the place for the capital examination and the center of the national scientific examination, actually has a good environment, especially the examination sheds closest to the center, which are the cleanest, most tidy, and the most representative of the examination room It is a majestic and solemn place, and because it is close to the examiner's work room, this place is like the face project of the entire Gongyuan. There is no cutting corners. The white walls and black tiles are neat and strong no matter how you look at it.This time, because he was going to receive officials, the person in charge specially asked someone to repaint the plaster, and took a thorough rest.In this way, it looks even better.

After the adults arrived, because it hadn't started yet, many people even revisited the examination room where they had stayed for nine days when they participated in the general examination with great interest.

When the auction started, the auction method this time also surprised people. The process is actually very simple, that is, the household department sends people to send the items to be auctioned to each buyer, and let them look at it once. It is to confirm the items, and secondly, it is to give them a chance to get to know them up close.After that, those who are interested only need to write down the price they can accept on the list prepared in each test booth, and then put it in the bamboo tube at the door. The bamboo tubes were placed on the rostrum, and the people from the household department opened them one by one and read them out one by one. Everyone could clearly hear other people's quotations and their own quotations, whether there were any mistakes or omissions.At the same time, everyone's handwriting is also an ironclad proof that no one can fake it.

When all the prices are out, the one with the highest bid will naturally acquire the ownership of the auctioned item. There is no possibility of cheating. Home has been repriced once again.until the highest one appears.

In other words, this is the newest and fairest time for the imperial court to sell items for hundreds or even thousands of years, so even if there are a few people who rely on the old and sell the old, they feel a little shameless, but it really works. , everyone is very interested, and even some guys who like to seek fame are thinking about whether this matter will be recorded in history, whether they will be named and so on.And those petty officials are even more excited, they finally have the right to buy good things on an equal footing!

No matter what the situation is, anyway, although the sales are much slower this time than before, basically everyone is very satisfied. The field item on the first day has the most people, and it is also the one where everyone participates with the best interest , the final selling price satisfies the emperor even more, and ten percent of the value is recovered. What could make the emperor happier than this?Even if the household department reported that each family had some loans, he couldn't take it to heart.Borrow, borrow, borrow my money and buy my things, it seems that I have suffered a loss, but can you not pay back the money?Dare to pay it back?If you have the guts, let your family property become part of the auction.

As for Master Zhen's repayment plan, the emperor expressed his satisfaction. Well, this guy is very knowledgeable and honest. Such a person can be used. With such a wink, he knows that the emperor's money is not easy to borrow.No need to ask, the future of an official who satisfies the emperor is definitely good. Master Zhen listened to his son's words and borrowed money this time.

Master Zhen sat in the Gongyuan for a whole day, and finally got a lot of money. He bought a whole thousand mu of top-grade farmland. Although because of the price, he finally bought the land on the south side of Tongzhou, but that's it. He is already very satisfied. As for the superior fields, even in Suzhou, his family has never had such a great ability. This time it is really a bargain.

It was at this time that he learned from countless officials' gossip that there were seven families in the first batch of house raids released this time, and there were really not a few of them. There are more than 30 mu of land, and there are nearly 5000 mu of land copied from the homes of these housekeepers, housekeepers and other slaves, and all of them are good land.Among them, those big Zhuangzi are basically owned by the owner. For example, there are no less than 40 Zhuangzi with an area of ​​40 hectares ([-] mu), nine of them with [-] hectares, and more than [-] with [-] hectares. The most valued by the upper class is also the one that is highly contested, and the [-] hectares he bought, or the ten hectares of small villages that other small officials value, are absolutely dispensable in the eyes of these big households. Existence is the property of those stewards and housekeepers, and those people feel ashamed to buy these. It is precisely because of this that the land of more than [-] and [-] hectares, and [-] and [-] hectares can be divided by these petty officials.

Master Zhen didn't care where it came from, as long as he knew it was a good land, and this time let them buy a good land that they couldn't buy before at 1000% of the price, that would be enough.For a thousand mu, the annual profit is at least 500 taels, if it is more, it can be [-] taels.The aristocratic family looked down on him, but he was very satisfied, not to mention him, other officials with poor family backgrounds were also very satisfied, such as a colleague of Master Zhen's Hanlin Academy, who bought it in one go There are three lands of ten hectares, and the mouth of the smile can't be closed. What he said is more realistic, one is for the daughter as a dowry, one is for the younger son, and the other is the original land, which happens to be passed on to the eldest son. All of a sudden, none of them will fail, and it can be regarded as the best legacy he gave to his children.Even if he dies, there is no need to worry about the future life of the children.

The place Mr. Zhen bought is a little out of the way, so the price is reasonable. At 1% of the price, this high-quality land is only ten taels of silver per mu, compared with the fourteen to five taels of land around the capital, I don't know how much better it is.Although it cost a full [-] taels, from Master Zhen's point of view, if there are still more, he really wants to buy it, even if he wants to borrow money again.

It's a pity, there are too many officials in the capital, and there are also many officials at the bottom, so basically everyone can buy some, which is already the result of some mutual concessions.

Not to mention them, even the big families of the aristocratic families, most of them are in the same situation. Who makes this capital city not have many other things, but there are many high-ranking officials and nobles. These big Zhuangzi can't even get one from each family!Those who have the intention to take advantage and pick up the leak, this time it is basically for nothing.

With the experience of the first day, when the house was sold on the second day, interested people became more and more cautious. Mr. Zhen worked very hard to buy a house with four entrances. Unfortunately, although such a house exists, it is robbed However, those big families just bought a three-entry house not far behind his house, which cost him 1000 taels of silver. This house is really useless now, but it is cheaper than the market price. He is still very satisfied even if the house is rented out by nearly [-]%. The most important thing is that he thinks that if he will be an official in the capital all the year round in the future, or give his daughter a door in the capital. If it is a marriage, then it is definitely possible for this house to be a dowry for the daughter.

Mr. Zhen did not participate in the shop, and he still has more than 1 silver left. If he buys the shop, he can only buy two of these silver, but he still has too many things to buy, including the wood ordered by his wife at home. But the big head, he has inquired about it. There are very few lumber of rosewood, and it must be very popular at that time. Just look at how many low-level officials in the capital will know the quantity of these things. It is probably difficult to do, and he is thinking Is it right to change to some camphor wood, nanmu, or even beech, oak wood?If the wife disagrees, then he will first focus on replacing the house with a suitable set of attractive furniture. The finished furniture is easier to buy, after all, there are a lot of them, and the price is definitely not high.It is really a good deal, even if you buy a complete set of rosewood furniture, it is not expensive, after all, it is considered second-hand.

I heard that for 1000 taels, you can buy a complete set of more than 30 pieces of good camphor wood from the living room to the study room and the bedroom.Even rosewood rosewood is less than 3000 taels, which is really a good deal. If it weren't for the housekeeper's house, this set would be a bit shocking, and the price would probably be even higher.It's just that Mr. Zhen is an affordable person. For him, second-hand is second-hand. What's the point?He's not a clean freak, right? As long as the pattern is right and the wood is right, there's nothing wrong with it.If not, buy more and change all the furniture in the main courtyard.

In this way, the remaining money is estimated to be 1 taels. He has already thought about the money, and spent half of it to buy some calligraphy and painting. He has long been dissatisfied with the lack of treasures in his study. If it weren't for the difficulty of finding these things, he would have spent a lot of money to enrich them. Now that's just right. .Even if you just buy the least valuable ones, buying more can make your study more refined.

The rest is to buy the antiques, decorations, jades and so on that the wife needs. What the wife said is true, there are indeed fewer things that can be used to support the scene in their house. I didn’t think it in Suzhou in the past. The foundation is really too shallow.

For five days in a row, Mr. Zhen devoted almost all his energy to the auction site, or more than half of the officials in the entire capital devoted their energy to this place. Fortunately, the auction was hosted by the Ministry of Household Affairs, and these officials were taken into account from the very beginning. Due to the situation, I deliberately put the time in the afternoon, and it is estimated that the government work in the entire capital will be paralyzed.Not to mention the capital city, but later on, officials from nearby or even distant places found out about it, and wrote posts asking their own family members to come and participate, thinking about getting some good things back home. Of course, this family member is an immediate family member. , the servants are not allowed to come in, otherwise it would be too disrespectful to the participating capital officials, right? How can the master and servants participate in the event on the same stage.

Officials from other places are very excited to send people to participate in such an event. After so many years, they can finally eat the soup in the capital.It's really not easy, even if the price is not comparable to what I knew before, but being able to join is progress!We are finally taking advantage of the imperial court.

Every day when Mr. Zhen gets something, he goes home and tells Mrs. Zhen what happened in detail. The couple always have to figure out whether the money they have prepared is reasonable.Talking about it, this is also an inevitable step for a family with a small family business. For example, the Hanlin who sold three ten-acre Zhuangzi also counted every day. Maybe it was just this once in his life, for the sake of money. Careful, most of the scholars are somewhat ignorant of general affairs.

That Hanlin's surname is Xing. As soon as this surname came out, many people may have already started to frown. Friends who think directly about Mrs. Xing, congratulations, you guessed right, this is Mrs. Xing's grandfather, Xing Hanlin is over 40 this year , older than Mr. Zhen, but in terms of having sons, he is much better than Mr. Zhen, because his eldest son is now 20 years old and married a wife, and his youngest son is 17 years old. I am going to get married in the next year, and I have a little girl, who is only 11 years old now, and she is still young. She has just started to walk around under the leadership of her mother to prepare for the future marriage.

Xing Hanlin was a Jinshi five years ago, one class higher than Master Zhen. After graduation, he stayed in the Imperial Academy. This is not because his family is a scholarly family, but because he has a good teacher. So much so that he became a fellow student with a bachelor from the Hanlin Academy. In this way, knowing that Xing Hanlin is not smooth enough and it is not easy to get good grades when he is released, he simply left him in the Imperial Academy as a sixth-rank student. official position.

Speaking of it, Xing Hanlin's family can only be regarded as an ordinary landlord's family, and his hometown is also Suzhou. It is precisely because of the relationship with fellow villagers that he has a really good relationship with Master Zhen.And this Xing Hanlin's family property is not as good as that of Master Zhen, but when he first came to Beijing, he sold all his family property in Suzhou except his ancestral house and came to the capital, so from the beginning, he was more confident than Master Zhen Some, with the help of my senior brother, I bought two shops, one with a farm of [-] mu, and hired a confidant in charge to run the shop by myself, one specialized in selling silk from Suzhou, and the other specialized in selling lake brushes. Yes, after several years, I have accumulated some money.

Originally, if there was no auction this time, what he was thinking was to buy some shops so that he could distribute them to his sons. After all, the eldest son has already married and has children, and the younger son is also getting married. It's about separation.It's just that it's really hard to classify this farm or something, and if you want to buy it again, you can't find a suitable one.That's how I came up with this idea.

Now it’s all right, the money I saved has been used where I want to spend it the most, [-] acres of land, [-] acres for each of the three children, as long as I prepare a house for the youngest son, and add something else to the daughter’s dowry After the daughter-in-law gets married, the family property can be divided in advance, so that the two daughter-in-laws will not fight in the future. Don't think he doesn't know, the eldest daughter-in-law has already settled accounts.

Give the eldest son two shops, a thousand acres of land, an old house in the capital and an ancestral house in Suzhou. In that way, they will occupy [-]% of the entire family property. The eldest son will not be dissatisfied with the house that spans the courtyard, and the youngest son will not be hopeless.

Xing Hanlin, who had a very clear plan, moved really fast. On the first day, he spent 5000 taels to buy a land, and on the second day, he spent another 200 taels to buy a house. On the third day, he bought a lot for 5000 taels. Good furniture, good boxes that can be used as dowry, small objects made of high-quality wood, and some gold and jade decorations. There are quite a few here that he plans to put in the new house as a house for his youngest son. It is considered that he subsidizes the younger son, after all, he can't just give the younger son an empty house.In addition, I bought a lot of jewelry that can be used as dowry, clothing materials and other things, and I spent about [-] in total before I stopped.

The money is already all of his savings, and he took out the money that was originally planned for the younger son's marriage, and borrowed 5000 taels from the household department to make up enough.

However, he spent the money very happily and was very satisfied. In his opinion, this is the best investment and arrangement for the future of his children, even if the children are all worthless in the future. With these fields, The children will not be hungry anymore, so I say, poor parents all over the world!

Lin Houye's family was also very satisfied, because what they snatched was not comparable to the Zhen family. Lin Houye went out in person, not only bought a hundred-acre village, but also bought many precious ancient books, and the largest The only reward is to snatch a guqin, so elegant, to be honest, only rich and leisure people will be interested in it. Lin Houye was very proud of something that could really increase the future of the family and bought it at a price of [-]%.

In addition, there are quite a few of the Four Treasures of the Study, which were snatched away by a group of high-ranking, dignified, and upright civil servants above the third grade. Although they were very refined in the past, when they came here, they were affected by the atmosphere of rushing to shoot this time. , It's rare for everyone to earn red faces. If someone else buys something that everyone likes, not to mention how triumphant the person who bought it is, the other people will definitely stare at each other and feel the same hatred.

The emperor watched the reports sent by the hidden guards in the palace every day, and every time he read it, he had a good time. It was really the first time he knew that his ministers still had such a gaffe, and he couldn't help it. Ever wondered if it will be done again after the new year?There are still several people locked up in his hands. It is really a matter of hello, hello, hello everyone!Look at the rising numbers on the account books of the account department in the past few days!Thinking about the pile of treasures brought into the palace, he felt a little moved.

But fortunately, he still knows how to control his own desires. He knows that he has done a lot of house raids, which will easily cause panic among the ministers, and it will be a bit detrimental to his own rule. After thinking about it, he can only give up, but turned around. He also thought of the inventory in the inner warehouse of the palace that had been placed for a long time and was never used.Most of those things are wood for the palace to prepare for the repair of the palace. The palace does not necessarily have to be repaired every year, but the wood storage is done every year. As time goes by, there are more and more of these things. Adult things The backlog is also increasing, because if it is really necessary to repair the palace, the materials used will naturally be selected and selected, choosing the best and the latest ones, so that most of the things from the old year will become unwanted.

Two of the people who were dealt with this time were officials who were in charge of the internal treasury. Apart from stealing the items in the palace, their way of making money was to resell the backlog of staff bricks and tiles.Rather than letting these people make money, I might as well earn the money myself, and sell these things at the auction. He has already discovered that the sales of wood and the like are actually very good. Almost everyone who has a daughter It is necessary, especially good wood, and the worst wood in this palace is taken out, and it is definitely the best in front of these people.

There are also some old clothes, some utensils without dragon patterns and other taboo patterns that cannot be made into a set, curtains with good meanings, light gauze, and this, snuff bottles that are already tired of playing with, toys that princes don’t want , These can be dealt with, and directly add some income to one's own private treasury, the emperor's family also feels poor sometimes!Changing money can also make the Ministry of Internal Affairs import some new things, right? He hasn't let go of purchasing good things for several years.Such as those Western objects!

The will of the emperor was not mentioned. The auction of the confiscated items has not yet ended, and the news of the backlog in the internal treasury was immediately spread. Sending people and sending money, needless to say, the emperor definitely made a lot of money this time. This is a monopoly, and there is a monopoly dedicated to the royal family. It is a backlog, and that is an honor that many people can't even imagine.

Even Master Zhen wondered if he should borrow another sum of money to buy some good wood!Well, old clothes are also acceptable, they are all tributes, the quality of the materials is absolutely good, even if it has been a long time, the color is not as good as before, and the homely clothes must be good.

Especially the new officials from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who want to perform well and earn more money for the emperor. I am afraid that after the one who followed in the footsteps of his predecessors created a list of auction items ingeniously and distributed them around, the scene became more and more heated. .

Almost all the officials looked at the list with trembling hands and bloodshot eyes. Look at the list!Oh, why are there so many good things?This one, even the toilet is made of mahogany, which is really enviable.As for silver, why is it so forbidden?