Chapter 270

The hundred officials inside the military camp tents completely lost their composure.

Inside and outside the entire camp, curses and shouts rose and fell in waves.

"In a whole year we get barely over a hundred taels of silver, yet now a house in the capital asks for eight thousand guan? Do they want us to die?"

"Your family has only three people, so living in a small house is fine! But my household, up and down, numbers over a hundred souls! Where on earth am I to find thirty thousand guan?!"

"This post is untenable. Everyone, tomorrow I shall submit a memorial to Your Majesty requesting to retire; this house is beyond our means! Let whoever wants to buy it, buy it!"

"..."

The hundred officials reached a unanimous agreement.

They finally decided to submit a collective resignation memorial tomorrow.

There was no other reason.

The houses were too expensive.

They simply could not afford them!

At dawn the next day.

As the hundred officials entered the city to attend court.

Many could not help but glance at Qianmen Street outside the Forbidden City.

Just one glance.

Even those officials who had not originally intended to submit a memorial could no longer sit still.

Because they suddenly realized.

Su Qiao had not demolished his own home!

Su Qiao's own courtyard now stood right on Qianmen Street!

"Too outrageous! Too outrageous!"

"Why didn't Su Qiao demolish his own house? Now he wants us to buy houses from the Bureau of Paper Money? Is he mad?"

"..."

Outside the Qianqing Palace.

The hundred officials were bustling about.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the hundred officials before him and asked in confusion.

"Jiang Huan, what is going on?"

"Your Majesty... the houses sold by the Bureau of Paper Money are too expensive; the entire court cannot afford them."

Zhu Yuanzhang was momentarily stunned.

"Cannot afford them? Just how expensive?"

Jiang Huan whispered.

"Your Majesty, do you remember the Wei Duke Prefecture?"

"I remember it."

"Originally, the land of the Wei Duke Prefecture was cut by Lord Su into five houses; a house bought for twenty thousand guan could be resold for one hundred and fifty thousand guan. How could these lords not be anxious!"

One hundred and fifty thousand guan!

It was direct robbery!

Even Xu Huizu's annual salary was only a little over two thousand taels of silver.

Without eating or drinking for seven or eight years, he could barely buy back his ancestral estate!

Who wouldn't be anxious in such a situation?!

The corners of Zhu Yuanzhang's mouth twitched slightly.

He gritted his teeth and said.

"We do not have that much silver either! Tell them to go find Su Qiao; summon Su Qiao to court immediately!"

"Let us delay a bit longer; let the hundred officials wait a while!"

"Yes!"

154, Su Qiao: I didn't sell it!

Under the Fengtian Sect.

The entire court, every single person, stared with bloodshot eyes at the empty dragon throne before them.

The salaries of Great Ming were already low.

The houses in Jin Ling had become so expensive almost overnight.

How could people possibly live like this?

【49】 Those Huaixi nobles who already held titles, receiving two salaries in court and occasional rewards from Old Zhu on festivals, would at least not end up sleeping on the streets.

Those like the Huaixi nobles who already held titles received two salaries at court, and Old Zhu bestowed additional rewards on festivals and holidays, so they would hardly be left sleeping in the streets.

But the scholar-officials who had entered the court through the imperial examination system were in a much more difficult position.

Although their families possessed some assets.

Those were ancestral estates!

Forcing them to sell their ancestral estates was more painful than killing them.

Throughout history, people have heard of officials becoming wealthy, but never of officials selling their ancestral estates just to hold office!

"A house for thirty thousand guan, and it is only a tiny patch of land; why doesn't Su Qiao just come and rob us directly?"

"Thirty thousand guan is bad enough, but that was the very house we just sold to Su Qiao! How did this young man make so much silver just by flipping it back and forth?"

"..."

Just as the hundred officials were spewing curses.

Su Qiao walked into the Fengtian Sect holding an abacus, looking impatient.

"No, why did you, Commander Jiang, summon me to court for no reason?"

"My rank is insufficient; I cannot attend court!"

"There is still a huge pile of matters waiting at the Viceroy Yamen!"

"..."

The moment Su Qiao stepped into the Fengtian Gate.

The hundred officials, who had been eager to act, instantly fell into a dead silence.

It was at this very moment.

Zhu Yuanzhang slowly rose on his dragon carriage from the vermilion steps.

Seeing this, the hundred officials hurriedly bowed; before Old Zhu could speak, Duke Xu Huizu stepped forward and shouted loudly.

"Your Majesty! You must do justice for your subject!"

"My father's Duke Prefecture was bestowed by the Son of Heaven, yet this rascal split it into five parts; a single residence costs thirty thousand Guan! He profited a total of one hundred and thirty thousand Guan from it!"

Hearing Xu Huizu's words.

Su Qiao looked at Xu Huizu in confusion and asked.

"Your Grace, are you saying that when you sold the residence, someone deceived you?"

The corner of Xu Huizu's mouth twitched slightly.

Then, gritting his teeth, he said.

"No!"

Su Qiao continued to ask.

"Then when this humble official bought your residence, did I deliberately suppress the price? Or did I cause you to suffer a loss?"

Hearing Su Qiao speak thus.

Xu Huizu's face turned an even more terrifying shade of green.

Buying the Duke Prefecture for twenty thousand Guan; that price absolutely did not constitute bullying.

At that time, land prices throughout Jin Ling were exactly like this.

Xu Huizu took a deep breath, then suddenly said.

"Then how much are you selling it for now? Why do you not mention a single word?!"

Su Qiao looked at Xu Huizu in confusion and said.

"Your Grace, taking the land of your former Duke Prefecture as an example, our costs were not merely twenty thousand Guan."

"We also rebuilt the residence on the foundation of that land."

Xu Huizu roared.