The Ming Dynasty’s Prodigal Son - Chapter 1846

[1846. Chapter 1756 The secret of the Duke of Zhen]

. No one has the slightest interest in this tall building.

When it was first built, people thought it was a pagoda.

Because in this era, people’s impression of tall buildings is mostly related to pagodas.

Later I discovered that this building was different from the pagoda.

When you build such a tall building, isn’t it because you have enough food to support it?

No one knew what kind of medicine Fang Jifan was selling in his gourd.

But Fang Jifan immediately took the lead and entered the unfinished building.

The main framework has been completed.

But the interior decoration will still take a lot of time.

The first person to enter was the lobby on the first floor. Fang Jifan immediately said: “Everything in this building will be covered with ceramic tiles, not only the floor, but also the walls. Come, come, come with me.” He

turned around a wall , this place is still rough, but… a row of strange doors have appeared.

Someone opens the door.

There was only a one-foot square space here. Fang Jifan entered first. Others swarmed in, but there were too many people to squeeze in. Then someone outside closed the door.

“This is an elevator.” Fang Jifan explained: “The top of the ladder box is pulled up by a strong cable, and the rope is connected by a special pulley. Here, there will be specialized personnel to raise and pull down the elevator. “

As he was talking, the elevator actually moved.

Everyone inside looked miserable.

Every time you reach a floor, the elevator will stop temporarily, and then a dedicated person will close the door, and then the elevator will continue to the next floor.

This is a human lift.

What Ming Dynasty lacks most is manpower.

There are seven elevator groups in the entire building, and each elevator group is assigned five manpower. They go up and down floor by floor without stopping.

Of course… there is a cost to doing this. This is why, even in Xishan New City, there are very few tall buildings with more than eight floors.

At the end, the elevator finally opened, reaching the top of the building.

Fang Jifan stepped out of the elevator. Although the other floors had not been decorated and were still under construction, here… manpower had been urgently allocated for decoration.

In front is a corridor, the walls and floor of which are paved with ceramic tiles.

Against the wall are kerosene lamps. The light from the lamps and the refraction of light from the ceramic tiles make the place brightly lit.

After passing the promenade, you can see a sign here.

The signboard says “Xishan Bank”.

At this moment, the people who came upstairs were in an uproar. You looked at me, I looked at you, and whispered.

Fang Jifan said: “When this building is completed, Xishan Bank will move here. The entire floor here will be the office of Xishan Bank. Not only that, the 29th floor is Xishan Jianye; the 28th floor , is for Xishan Coal Industry; the 27th floor is for Xishan Iron Industry…”

As soon as this statement came out, it inevitably caused an uproar.

You know… Xishan’s industry is closely connected to many businesses.

Merchants who need to borrow money or repay the loans must go to Xishan Bank to go through the procedures.

Some people need to build workshops and require a large amount of coal and iron, and most of them purchase it from Xishan. If the quantity is large, dealing with it is indispensable.

Fang Jifan added: “In the past, Xishan occupied a large area, and many offices were scattered in various places. It was inconvenient to run and extremely inconvenient to manage. But now, all the businesses in Xishan are here, upstairs and upstairs. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to work at any time in the lower city?”

Entering this Xishan Bank, it occupies a large area and has a bright view. It uses a lot of glass on almost all sides. In addition, it is at a high place and has plenty of light. This is a big place. In the Xishan Bank, there are wooden tables in front of each other, and rows of cabinets for storing information, including pen, ink, paper, and inkstones.

On both sides, there are small public rooms separated one by one, which are obviously used by officials or shopkeepers.

“The essence of buying and selling lies in the exchange of what we have and what we don’t have. People don’t have it and I have it. Or maybe people have it and I don’t have it. That’s why there is a transaction. But how do you know if someone has someone or not? This is the foundation of this building. Everyone, gather together. Working together can not only facilitate transactions, but also save a lot of space. When various industries in Xishan settle here, other businesses will also move in. You see…” Fang

Jifan came to the end. At the end is a large piece of glass. Looking down from the glass, the entire Xishan New City falls at your feet.

Many people followed, and standing here felt strange.

Zhu Houzhao looked left and right. He was brave enough to go to the glass and lightly smashed it with his fist, making a thumping sound. Then, Zhu Houzhao began to knock harder, making the glass clang.

But everyone was so frightened that their faces turned pale, fearing that the glass would break.

Fang Jifan lowered his face: “That… that…”

Zhu Houzhao turned around with a very serious look on his face: “Is this glass reliable?”

Fang Jifan coughed: “This… is a special glass, it’s easy to It won’t break.”

But this thing has never been easy to handle. Fang Jifan quickly turned the topic elsewhere: “Of course, I just want to show you today. I’m afraid it will take two years before the building is completed. It is still unknown what improvements will be made in the next two years, so inviting everyone here today will definitely give everyone a benefit.”

Everyone only thinks about Xishan Bank and other large commercial banks moving in.

A keen person immediately realized that if his business bank could be located in the same building as Xishan Bank and Xishan Jianye’s business bank, it would be of great help to his goodwill.

Why do you guys take care of yourself every day, ride in the best carriage, wear the latest sunglasses and big gold chains? Isn’t it just to let others know your strength?

If this building is really what Duke Zhen said, then this building will definitely become a landmark of the entire Xishan New City and even the entire capital. This will be of great benefit to his business.

Such a building is naturally not suitable for living, but everyone is a businessman. In the final analysis, it is to make money. If you can make money, everything else… is trivial.

But when I heard Fang Jifan say that this happened two years later, I couldn’t help but feel a little regretful.

Since it’s two years later…what are you going to say now?

Liu Kuan and other Hanlin officials and censors also shamelessly followed.

They complained in their hearts that this building was all a fancy thing and not practical at all. As they stretched their necks, they saw that Fang Jifan had arrived in the public room. He took a map from the public room and spread it out.

Just when everyone was confused, Fang Jifan said: “This new city has sold hundreds of thousands of houses, and the future plan is to accommodate 500,000 households, or even more. Please take a look, here… here It is three hundred acres of land, which is not a large area, but do you know how many families will move in here soon? “

This location is next to the building.

The merchants frowned.

Fang Jifan said: “That’s 7,960 households. This household is calculated based on the minimum of four or five people. Then this area of only 300 acres has a population of 30,000 to 40,000. If you Have you ever seen such a place in the new city or the old city?”

Fang Jifan’s rhetorical question made everyone stunned.

In this era, the population density is not high. After all… urbanization has just begun.

In an ordinary prefecture or county town, only a few thousand people can live in the city. If the population is tens of thousands, it is considered a big city.

Of course, the city of Beijing was an exception. During the Hongzhi period, the capital was already extremely prosperous. It could be said that the population was increasing day by day, and the goods were abundant. Its population had reached one million.

Of course, there is water in this number of millions.

After all…a large number of Beijing camps, imperial guards, and many eunuchs were also among them.

The real residential population is probably between 700,000 and 800,000.

This is almost the largest city in the world, without a rival.

When the New Deal began, a large number of outsiders flowed in and new cities were built. This population also increased like a snowball, so that the capital’s population was around three million.

This is a terrible amount.

It’s just that these people are scattered in every corner of the capital like a big pie.

After all, the building density in this era is low, not to mention the dignitaries who casually build mansions on several acres of land, and ordinary people who use hundreds of feet of land to build a small courtyard to live in.

In the past, the same acre of land could accommodate three families and more than a dozen people.

Then… in Xishan New City, there can be thirty households and hundreds of people.

Fang Jifan then asked: “May I ask these three hundred acres of land, thousands of households, and tens of thousands of people, do they need food, clothing, housing, and transportation, do they need to work, and do they need expenses?”

These words definitely had a huge effect. Many people were shocked, as if they understood something!

They looked at Fang Jifan in surprise…and suddenly felt…a shocking feeling.

Zhu Houzhao was still confused and didn’t understand what Fang Jifan meant.

Liu Kuan and others just looked picky, thinking only that Fang Jifan could quickly flip the house.

Fang Jifan continued: “Everyone, what is lacking in this world is never land. What is lacking is population. Only with people can there be wealth, business, and prosperity. If not, then what is lacking in the Golden Continent?” Land, why is it worthless? Who is interested in going to Golden Continent now? My father is in Golden Continent. In order to attract refugees, all those who seek refuge in Golden Continent will be given a thousand acres of land as a gift. This thousand acres of land is given to them for free. Is anyone interested in this?”

Everyone shook their heads like rattles, fearing that Duke Zhen might misunderstand them.

Fang Jifan narrowed his eyes: “So… everyone, if we build a row of shops in these three hundred acres of land, one hundred taels and one foot is not expensive, right?”

One hundred taels… one foot?

Liu Kuan subconsciously said: “Then we might as well rob it!”

But at this moment…

someone said: “I don’t know where the shop is exactly. I have a hundred taels of silver. Can I pay it now?”

(End of Chapter)