[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers":3,"chapter-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-34":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Restoring the Mountains and Rivers",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2364303,4623,"Chapter 34: Living in the Capital Is Hard","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-34",34,"\u003Cp>After some polite exchanges, Li Mu arranged for someone to show Lan Linjie to their quarters.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, they had bought a three-court yard in Xicheng; otherwise, it would have been hard to settle in.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the Hou Fu was fine, it was still inconvenient. To serve long-term in the capital, one could not rely on others’ hospitality forever.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Li Mu had considered moving out, he did not act immediately. The Marquis and his wife had treated him well; such a matter required a proper opportunity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Leaving aside his family’s assets in the hometown, he already had modest wealth in the capital.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He owned a three-court yard in Xicheng, where every inch of land was priceless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also owned two three-story shop buildings, though their location was slightly off, near the southeast gate intersection.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Baoding Prefecture, he had three estates, totaling about twelve hundred mu.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his liquid cash was scarce; the three thousand taels of silver he brought into the capital now remained only fifteen hundred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>All earnings from acting as intermediary had been poured into these properties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The regular share from the yamen amounted to roughly four thousand taels, but that money would not be disbursed anytime soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mainly because Li Mu was cautious—he took only what the system allowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These properties, if put on the market, would be fiercely contested. Had they not been sold at a fire-sale price, he could never have afforded them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One must admit: the fastest way to accumulate wealth in a feudal dynasty was to become an official.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In just two months since entering officialdom, he had amassed so much property—no wonder everyone wanted to be an official.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Excluding salary and yamen income, these properties alone could yield about three thousand taels annually in normal years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Of course, such high returns were largely due to his status.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beyond the capital, the Five City Military Command held considerable influence over surrounding prefectures and counties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pursuing fugitive criminals and requisitioning local yamen runners for assistance was routine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His authority as a Battalion Commander might not be respected in Baoding Prefecture, but it carried sufficient deterrent power over low-ranking clerks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aside from official taxes, all local surcharges and levies were exempted from him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even when conscripting tenant farmers for labor, local clerks had to time it carefully to avoid disrupting the cultivation of his fields.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His urban shops received even greater preferential treatment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Within his own jurisdiction, not only were all fees waived, but when trouble arose, soldiers from the Five City Military Command would arrive first to handle it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Such hassle-free shops naturally commanded premium rents.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His income was substantial, but so were his expenses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hired one new private secretary, with a monthly salary of twenty taels agreed upon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He provided food, lodging, writing materials, and also assigned one maid, one old woman servant, and one male servant; a carriage was required for travel, making his actual monthly expenditure no less than thirty-five taels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the proper treatment befitting a juren.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the Great Yu Dynasty, there were no poor juren—only scholarly pedants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Land donated by commoners alone was enough to let a juren live comfortably.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The thirty retainers he brought from Hanzhong cost no less than one hundred fifty taels monthly: sixty taels as salary, the rest for food, clothing, and daily needs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This expense could not be cut.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While serving in the capital, the value of retainers was not obvious; once posted to the provinces, they became the foundation of his survival.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He appeared to be keeping retainers, but in truth, he trained them as personal guards. If needed, they could instantly become junior officers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As a fifth-rank official, his household could not consist solely of rough men; he needed servants, maids, old women, cooks, stable hands, and gardeners.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A rough estimate showed that once fully staffed, his household would number no fewer than fifteen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Add expenses for house repairs, his personal living costs, tea and snacks for guests, and the rear household’s monthly expenditure would be no less than one hundred taels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, the cost of warhorses was covered by the yamen’s public account; otherwise, expenses would have been higher.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Including official social obligations, a ambitious military officer like him spent no less than four thousand taels annually.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Civil officials spent slightly less daily, but to live comfortably, their expenses still did not fall below two thousand taels.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If posted to a low-revenue office, one relied solely on salary and cut costs by not hiring a private secretary and reducing household servants.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One never realized the cost until one calculated it—and then one was stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now Li Mu truly understood what it meant: “Living in the capital is hard.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If a fifth-rank official faced such costs, how much greater must be the expenditures of noble households above him?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one’s family held a key post, all was well; once removed from the center of power, income plummeted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those with deep reserves could sustain themselves through their properties.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But as influence faded and hidden privileges vanished, income from family assets gradually declined.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If one failed to adjust promptly and cut unnecessary expenses, one would soon fall into the trap of spending tomorrow’s bread today.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Battalion Commander, the Directorate of Ceremonial has announced the sale of confiscated property from disgraced officials.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>There are two million eight hundred thousand mu of land alone—the capital is in an uproar.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“If you’re interested, you should go take a look—they say some of the land is even from Hanzhong!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the excited Secretary Yan, Li Mu had no idea why he was so worked up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>No matter how much property the eunuchs sold, a mere clerk had no business dreaming of it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a brief pause, Li Mu realized something was off. The eunuchs were not merely selling property—they were digging up the roots of disgraced officials’ potential comebacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The confiscated estates of disgraced officials, aside from a small portion in the capital, were scattered across the empire.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the eunuchs’ reputation, venturing into the heartland of the literati to seize land would be suicide.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Keeping the land in the imperial treasury risked its return if any disgraced official were ever rehabilitated.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So they seized the opportunity of the court’s financial shortage and sold the properties outright. Those who could afford them were either nobles or local gentry.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before profit, even the closest ties were set aside. As long as the court offered discounts, buyers would rush to take them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the deals were done, the literati faction fractured.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Those literati who once sympathized with the disgraced officials would shift their stance after gaining tangible benefits.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To protect their own interests, they would oppose any rehabilitation.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was merely the eunuchs’ first layer of strategy—there were deeper traps to come.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cheap deals were never truly good.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The land under disgraced officials’ names, besides their own holdings, mostly consisted of land informally registered under their names by neighbors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After buying this land at low prices, how would they treat the original owners?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they honored the original informal agreements, the neighbors would have no complaint—but the buyers would suffer heavy losses.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Land was the core asset in a feudal dynasty; even heavily discounted, its sale price would never be absurdly low.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to land given away as a favor, the cost difference was incomparable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If they refused to honor prior arrangements, the original landowners, whose interests were harmed, would surely resist.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1240,"2026-06-21T08:09:02.410Z",1,"Qwen3.5 397B","5d89c128d60941cbcdf46dc9bd293317d7a7ec7591e403f4b862149fc2b611f8","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-35","restoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-chapter-33",391,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Frestoring-the-mountains-and-rivers-cover.jpg"]