NOVEL WEB Chapter 44
After that, Lin Beifan left all the matters to Heshen and then went off to enjoy himself.
Heshen felt extremely helpless and utterly frustrated.
The issue with the national treasury was still unresolved, and now there were a bunch of other troublesome matters piled up—it was practically the death of him!
But no matter how upset he was inside, he could only endure and get on with it, holding his nose.
Subsequently, Heshen gathered tens of thousands of people on the open ground next to Capital City, where they began constructing cement houses.
In just a few days, rows of cement houses sprang up from the ground.
At the same time, it was advertised that these houses were for sale.
This situation quickly attracted the attention of the common people from Capital City, who came to watch in their spare time.
“Are the houses here for sale?”
“Of course, they are for sale. We built them specifically to sell!” an official said with a smile.“This house looks a bit strange…”
“That’s because these houses are all built with cement! Let me tell you, this cement is a type of building material invented by His Majesty. Building houses with cement is very fast, and they are big and sturdy too. Don’t believe me? Come and see for yourselves!”
The townsfolk walked into the house to give it a try.
“This house is really solid, just like one built with green bricks!”
“It’s true, even a hoe can’t break through!”
“What a great house!”
At this moment, someone asked, “Such a nice house, how much does it cost?”
The official held up two fingers: “Only 20 taels of silver!”
The crowd exploded in disbelief.
“What? Such a great house for only 20 taels?”
“That’s too cheap! My house, built with green bricks, cost me 60 taels of silver!”
“My house, although it’s made of red bricks, also cost 40 taels of silver!”
“Only 20 taels, how can there be such a good deal?”
“Because His Majesty is compassionate and knows that life is not easy for everyone, he is offering to sell these to you at half price!” the official said with a smile.
“Ah, I see!” the crowd exclaimed in realization.
At that moment, someone spoke up with difficulty, “The house is nice, and 20 taels is quite cheap, but I can’t come up with that much money all at once!”
“Don’t worry about that!”
The official said with a smile: “His Majesty has already considered this issue! His Majesty said that you can move in first and then pay in installments! Whenever you finish paying, the house will belong to you!”
“Is there really such a good deal?” the people were shocked once again.
“Would His Majesty, whose words are as precious as gold and jade, deceive you?”
The official took out an imperial edict and posted it: “This is an imperial decree personally issued by His Majesty. Take a look for yourselves!”
Everyone truly continued to read on.
The imperial proclamation stated plainly that these were welfare houses being provided to the common people. Each person could only purchase one unit, and each house cost 20 taels of silver.
If one did not have enough money, installment payments were an option, with regular monthly payments ranging from 30 to 100 wen.
Once the payments were completed, the house would be entirely privately owned.
If the money could not be paid by the deadline, a two-month grace period would be given.
If it still wasn’t possible to pay, the house would be reclaimed by the state.
Below, there are many detailed rules covering almost every aspect; everything has been taken into account.
Everyone is very tempted by the offer, as the houses are incredibly cheap, available for just 20 taels.
It’s not a problem if you don’t have the money; you can pay in installments and move in early.
Each month, you pay an amount ranging from 30 to 100 wen, depending on your choice, so the pressure isn’t too great.
At this moment, the official shouted, “Folks, for the first phase, we are only building 100,000 houses, which will take more than half a year! It will be after half a year that we can start building the second phase of houses!”
“The number of houses is limited, so if you want to buy one, you must act quickly. This way, in half a year, you can move into a big and sturdy concrete house! Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until next year!”
However, there were more onlookers than actual buyers, with very few transactions taking place.
……
The news spread quickly throughout the land, and everyone began to ridicule the situation.
“The foolish emperor is actually selling houses? It must be because there’s no money left in the national treasury, so he’s come up with this method to raise funds!”
“Of course! With the way he spends money, which country could sustain it?”
“Yes, I heard that in just two months, he has already spent over a million taels, and the national treasury has long been empty!”
“As a result, now he’s trying to sell houses, but he can’t sell many. He can’t get the money back, haha!”
“The foolish emperor, this is reaping what he sowed, serves him right!”
“However, what piques my curiosity is, what is this ‘cement’?”
“Who cares, who knows?”
……
Heshen saw it with his own eyes and felt anxious in his heart because the day to distribute money was approaching.
If the money couldn’t be paid out by then, there would be big trouble.
Having no choice, he had to enter the palace and report the matter to Lin Beifan.
Lin Beifan was very calm and said, “Since they don’t want it when it’s sold to them cheaply, then I’ll raise the price! Let’s increase it by one tael of silver first, and see if they want it then?”
Sitting beside her, Yaoyao was shocked: “What kind of divine move is this? Has your head gone dizzy again? People didn’t want it when you sold it for 20 taels, and now they want it when you sell it for 21 taels?”
“Just watch, won’t you know then?” Lin Beifan said with a soft chuckle.
We are currently recruiting. CN/KR/JP Translators/MTLers are welcome!
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/HGaByvmVuw