The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 395 Power Management and Real Estate
Shen Fu drafted Zhu Jianxuan's request into an imperial edict and first gave it to Zhu Jianxuan to personally check and confirm to see if there were any changes or adjustments needed to be made.

This kind of imperial edict involving etiquette and laws should be the most serious type of "edict" in nature.

After the emperor confirms it, he must "announce it to the world and let everyone know it."

In the past, the imperial edict had to be written in multiple copies and sent to all prefectures and counties across the country via the post road. The government offices would read it out or post it, and it might even have to be read out in public in a circular manner.

When Ming Dynasty emperors before Zhu Jianxuan drafted this type of edict, they usually had to discuss it with important ministers before drafting it and issuing it.

The key point is that if an ordinary emperor made a direct request and then rashly made certain regulations through an imperial edict, the government offices might not necessarily enforce it.

But Zhu Jianxuan is different. Now, Zhu Jianxuan can make decisions on all matters in the world directly without discussing them with anyone.

Now, if Zhu Jianxuan takes the initiative to summon ministers for discussion, then the ministers will express their opinions based on the emperor's requirements.

If Zhu Jianxuan did not inform anyone and personally instructed the cabinet to issue the edict directly, it would mean that the emperor had made up his mind and the ministers could just execute it directly.

Unless someone wants to listen to Zhu Jianxuan's lecture, they will not come to Zhu Jianxuan to talk about this matter.

Zhu Jianxuan's power has indeed reached its limit, but if Zhu Jianxuan's own judgment is wrong, no one can correct it before it is implemented.

Zhu Jianxuan checked the imperial edict drafted by Shen Fu and confirmed that it did not violate his wishes, so he personally sealed it and handed it over to the Ministry of Public Security.

In the past, imperial edicts had to be transmitted via post, but now they can be transmitted directly via telegram and radio.

It only takes a few minutes for the news to spread across the country and even the world, which once again amplifies Zhu Jianxuan's power.

I only need to say a few words, and it will spread all over the world in half an hour at most, and then the fate of millions of people will be directly changed.

If Zhu Jianxuan were a monarch born in this world, and if he achieved such achievements and possessed such power, he might not have any special thoughts.

But Zhu Jianxuan is a time traveler, and the memories from his past life often surface, allowing Zhu Jianxuan to think about problems from a different perspective.

The experience of the previous life itself may not be important, but this special perspective of thinking is very important, which can prevent Zhu Jianxuan from being completely lost in the current authority.

After Zhu Jianxuan confirmed the imperial edict on the building specifications, he asked Shen Fu to return to his office to continue working, while he began to think alone.

The power that I have now is simply not something that ordinary people can possess.

The Ming emperor after him would not have such power, and his descendants would not be able to continue to hold such power.

Even if one of his sons completely inherited his knowledge and way of thinking, he would not have the special mentality of being a human being in two lifetimes to provide him with this kind of vigilance.

It was not his status as emperor that gave him such power, but his own achievements that gave the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty such power.

Part of the extraordinary power that he had bestowed on the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty could be passed on to his descendants in the form of influence, but his mentality and vigilance could not be passed on.

Thinking of this, Zhu Jianxuan stretched out his hands, clenched his fists slightly, and felt the condition of his body.

Although I am still in good health, I am about to turn 50 and I must start thinking about and planning for my afterlife.

Because Zhu Jianxuan has gradually understood that the shaping and inheritance of power is not about management of results, and it is not just about saying who the heir is.

Instead, when it comes to process management, it is best to pass on power gradually and in stages over a sufficiently long period of time while you still have full control over the situation.

The secret appointment of a crown prince can only guarantee the power of the current emperor. The new emperor may not necessarily continue to uphold the will of his father after he ascends the throne.

You can't wait until you are completely unable to move before designating a young successor. You must start arranging your funeral affairs while you still have full control of the situation.

When one's body can no longer move, power should be completely passed on, and one's sudden death will not directly affect the situation.

This power cannot be passed on to just anyone, as the enormous responsibility that comes with it would overwhelm any ordinary person.

Therefore, this enormous power should be placed in a complex and sophisticated institutional system.

This system must be built now, so that we can have at least twenty years, preferably more than thirty years, to consolidate it.

After the system is established, central and local officials should be replaced by at least one generation, and preferably two generations.

Let this system become something that this generation takes for granted in their memories.

This system will become a "routine" that the entire bureaucratic system is accustomed to. If future generations want to subvert it on a large scale, they will be making enemies of the entire bureaucratic system.

The bureaucracy hates change the most and wants people to do things according to the rules and procedures.

We don't seek to have this structure last for three hundred years; it would be enough if it could last for more than a hundred years. By that time, the Ming people would be the only ones left in the world.

Zhu Jianxuan thought of his eldest son Zhu Jingkun's previous request:

"Jingkun's intelligence, ability, and mentality are all sufficient. If he can do a good job in this matter, he will naturally have a place in this system."

On the other hand, after Zhu Jianxuan's imperial edict was issued, people from all walks of life inside and outside the Ming court had different reactions.

Although none of them would stand up and question the unreasonableness of the rules set by Zhu Jianxuan, various ideas inevitably began to brew.

That night, people were discussing this matter in restaurants, teahouses, theaters, and many private courtyards across the Ming Dynasty.

People of different identities naturally have different focuses and different attitudes towards this edict.

As the person who proposed the formulation of building standards, the Minister of Rites felt somewhat regretful and puzzled after reading the contents of the imperial edict in the telegram forwarded by the Ministry of Public Administration.

But when he was working in the government office, he did not make any direct comments.

It was not until the afternoon when he was dismissed from office that he discussed the matter with his visiting friends at home, including the person who had instigated the Minister of Rites to submit a memorial.

"The emperor's decree is really unexpected. Buildings can only be built to a height of fifteen stories and fifty meters, and they must be built outside the city."

"The key is that common people without any honor can only build a building up to six stories and twenty meters. If you don't have a title, you can only build up to nine stories and thirty meters."

"Why? Our emperor is the living Lu Ban, and is most familiar with engineering construction. He must know that it is not difficult to build a 100-meter-high building now, right?"

"The Beiyuan New Palace built more than a decade ago had a palace that was over 100 meters high, and the Merit Building that is being planned now will be built directly to 200 meters."

"It can be seen that His Majesty really doesn't like tall buildings. If there weren't already many six-story buildings in the private sector, the limit might be even lower."

"Your Majesty has always been lenient in controlling people's food, clothing and daily expenses, so why is the restriction on high-rise buildings so strict?"

"No one knows why now, but the regulations made by the emperor in the past basically have profound meanings. Maybe everyone will understand it in another 20 years." The bureaucrats who pay attention to etiquette and systems are not very satisfied with this regulation. The key is that they do not understand Zhu Jianxuan's intentions.

A group of people shook their heads, sighed and muttered for a long time, and finally they could only accept the reality with great confusion, and then prepare to slowly observe and wait for the results to appear.

On the other side, in a restaurant in Hangzhou, a group of local real estate businessmen first noticed another thing:
"Did you notice that the emperor's edict seems to have specifically restricted the sale of upper and lower floors separately...

"What does this mean? Has anyone ever sold a house this way before? Can houses still be sold this way?"

The real estate businessmen around were all confused and shocked, but soon someone reacted.

"Your Majesty is not only the living Lu Ban, but also the living business saint. Why didn't we think of selling the building in layers before?"

"In the past, we could only build a building and sell it to one person, but there were too few people who could afford to buy the whole building. After selling it in layers, we can have more users."

"What's the point of you saying this now? The emperor banned it before we even thought of it!"

The practice of assigning different floors of a building to different people, and even subdividing each floor into different parts, appeared relatively late in history.

The first time it appeared clearly in the law was in the Napoleonic Code, which clearly stated that an area in a building could also have independent property rights.

With property rights, including ownership and use rights, it can be sold, leased, and transferred. This is truly capitalistic.

However, the building area property rights of the Napoleonic Code were mainly designed to cooperate with the law of partition and inheritance formed during the French Revolution.

The concept of human rights, which was influenced by the Enlightenment, supports that all people are born equal, and the key issue is that inheritance of property should also be equal, so the law of primogeniture should be abolished.

All assets left by a person should be divided equally among all his children.

If a person has a house and four children, then after his death the ownership of the house must be divided into four parts and equally distributed among the four children.

This kind of law was adjusted and applied to the sale of pure commercial housing, but that was basically after the 20th century.

Because commercial real estate is an industry that only began to flourish in the 20th century.

Before that, in the classical era in both the East and the West, houses were mostly built by individual families for their own use.

During the First Industrial Revolution, ordinary workers had very low incomes and most of them could not afford to buy houses, so they basically rented houses.
There is no widespread group of potential homebuyers in the city, and naturally there is no extensive commercial real estate industry.

In the history of Zhu Jianxuan's previous life, this practice was truly widely used after the end of World War II, when workers' welfare improved rapidly.

However, Ming Dynasty now has commercial real estate, because there are a large number of potential home buyers in Ming society, and the savings of craftsmen in state-owned factories are enough to buy independent houses.

Especially in Zhejiang, most of the local industries were public-private partnerships. The imperial court only held shares and provided supervision, but the actual operators and managers were still the original owners.

Although these manufacturers also implemented the minimum wage standards in accordance with the court's regulations, they did not completely copy the employee benefits of government-owned factories.

Many factories and businesses do not provide enough dormitories, or the conditions of the dormitories are poor, leaving more room for the development of private real estate.

However, this group of real estate businessmen in the early Ming Dynasty had not yet thought of selling different floors of a house to different people.

I never expected that each floor could be divided into several areas.

When they realized that they could do this, this road was directly blocked by their emperor.

The group of people were in mixed emotions and shook their heads in annoyance for a long time, then they focused on the last provision in the imperial edict, which was about borrowing.

"The loan amount cannot exceed the registered amount. This may be a real problem, but why is it stipulated like this?"

"How did His Majesty shift his focus from the issue of building height and floor number restrictions to private lending?"

"Maybe they are worried that private business owners will borrow money to build high-rise buildings?"

“It’s really possible. His Majesty has clearly listed the height restrictions for buildings, so those who meet the requirements may start building houses right away.

"The provincial capital can be built with twelve floors and forty meters, and the state capital can be built with ninety floors and thirty meters, but the latter is much higher with six floors.

“It’s very likely that some people will compete with each other and need loans to build buildings.”

“It does seem to make sense.”

Although the logic used by this group of bureaucrats to analyze things had nothing to do with what Zhu Jianxuan was preparing to curb, the form in which they were expressed was very similar.

After Zhu Jianxuan's imperial edict was issued, a wave of building craze soon emerged among the people of the Ming Dynasty.

After receiving the news of the imperial edict on the broadcast, many people in the provincial capital, prefectural capital, and state capital went to the government office to confirm it and immediately began to prepare.

Many people want to grab the reputation of being the first building of full height in the local area, which may directly affect their business.

Although people without titles and honors could only build six-story buildings as high as before for personal housing, commercial buildings were restricted to city standards.

As long as it is in the provincial capital, even if you have no achievements, you can build a twelve-story building in the name of the company. That is the standard for a duke.

Although it is a commercial building, we cannot prevent people from living in it. The boss of the company may want to eat, drink, defecate and urinate in the company in order to be able to work wholeheartedly.

Although commercial water and electricity supply are much more expensive than residential buildings, businessmen who can build such buildings certainly don't care about the money.

In the outer city areas of the northern and southern capitals, it is possible to build fifteen-story buildings, which is the standard for princes.

How can I let go of this opportunity...

As for those high-ranking nobles with titles, especially the wealthy dukes and royal families without fiefs, many of them decided to buy land and build buildings outside the city after seeing the news.

As a result, the real estate and construction industries in the Ming Dynasty suddenly became hot in a special form.

The financial industries that Zhu Jianxuan was wary of, especially the most direct financial industries such as private lending, have basically not made any waves.

Because Ming Dynasty is now in a stage of rapid industrialization, direct investment in industry is the fastest way to make money.

Currency derivatives are not yet developed, borrowing requires high collateral, and the ratio of debt to registered amount is not large, so it will not be too difficult to control.

This is also because Zhu Jianxuan’s regulations are all predictive in nature. It would be troublesome to impose restrictions when the financial industry has already become hot.

(End of this chapter)