My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 18 Guild Hall
However, today is a day off, and Su Ze has other things to do. Today he made an appointment with Shen Shixing to look for a rental house in the capital.

The National History Museum has essentially stopped operating, and it is not convenient for Su Ze to continue living in the office at this time. After all, the National History Museum is located in the imperial palace.

Shen Shixing once invited Su Ze to stay at his house temporarily, but Su Ze refused his invitation. So today he invited Su Ze again to accompany him to look for a house.

During the rest time, both of them wore Confucian robes. Shen Shixing also brought his servants with him, and the two of them went to the Suzhou Guild Hall in Chongwen District together.

"Brother Zilin, you haven't been to the Suzhou Guild Hall since you came to Beijing, right? There are so many tricks to renting a house in the capital, you'll probably need to ask your fellow villagers for help."

The guild hall is equivalent to the Beijing office in later generations, but the Ming Dynasty Guild Hall also has the functions of a hometown association and a chamber of commerce.

Su Ze was a poor scholar who was ignorant of the ways of the world. He had never been to the Suzhou Guild Hall, and he was curious about what the guild halls of that era were like.

"I didn't expect that our Suzhou Prefecture has a separate guild hall?"

Shen Shixing had been in the capital for many years. He said:
"In fact, during the Hongzhi Dynasty, all the guild halls in Nanzhili were united and called the Nanzhili Guild Hall."

Su Ze had heard of the "Huguang Guild Hall" in later generations, and he also asked in confusion:
“Why is the Nanzhili Guild Hall gone?”

"Nanzhili was too large, and each prefecture looked down on the other. First, Huizhou Prefecture established the Huizhou Guild Hall, and later each prefecture also opened its own guild hall."

Su Ze was speechless. It turned out that bulk trading in Jiangsu had already been like this in the Ming Dynasty, and bulk trading had a long history.

Shen Shixing said proudly:
"My Suzhou Prefecture is the number one prefecture in the world, so naturally we must have our own guild hall."

There is nothing wrong with this statement. Today, Suzhou Prefecture is indeed the most prosperous area in the entire Ming Dynasty. At that time, there was a saying that "Suzhou style, Guangzhou craftsmanship".

The so-called Guangzhou craftsmen are because Guangzhou is located in the coastal area and the handicraft industry has developed due to ocean trade. The craftsmanship of Guangzhou craftsmen is unique in the world.

Suzhou, the most prosperous prefecture in the Ming Dynasty, was also its fashion capital. In terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, Suzhou was a well-deserved benchmark at the time.

Fashionable clothing in Suzhou would soon become popular throughout the country, popular food in Suzhou would soon become the cuisine of the nobles in the capital, and popular music in Suzhou would be performed throughout the country.

As expected, when he arrived in front of the Suzhou Guild Hall, Su Ze saw that there were obviously more people coming and the streets were lined with busy shops.

Shen Shixing was familiar with the route and led Su Ze to a building with three entrances, front and back.

When the doorman saw Shen Shixing, he immediately welcomed the group in. After a while, the manager of the Suzhou Guild Hall hurried out to greet them.

"Master Zhuangyuan, if you have anything to say, please let us go to your house to pay a visit. Why bother you to come to the guild hall in person?"

Although he was in the capital, the steward still spoke with an authentic Wu accent. Shen Shixing sat down confidently and accepted the other party's compliment.

Since traveling through time, Su Ze has met important officials of the court. He has met several cabinet ministers alone and has also had a conversation with Zhang Juzheng.

It was not until this time that Su Ze realized that his identity after traveling through time was ridiculously high.

The seventh-rank Hanlin editor is already an unattainable position for many people in their official careers, but for young Hanlin officials, this is just the starting point of their official career.

For example, Shen Shixing is now the Deputy Minister of Rites, a fifth-rank official.

Shen Shixing was the top scholar in the 41st year of the Jiajing reign and had only been in official career for six years. You should know that the prefect of Suzhou was only a fourth-rank official.

Shen Shixing said to Su Ze:

"This is Su Ze, Su Zilin, an editor at the Hanlin Academy. He is a second-class Jinshi this year and a native of Suzhou Prefecture. Steward Huang will register Brother Su in the local register."

"Brother Zilin wants to rent a house in the capital. Please ask the guild to find a smart agent to find a suitable house close to the imperial city." Upon hearing this, the steward Huang's eyes lit up and he looked at Su Ze eagerly.

"So it's you, Editor Su, who's become quite famous in the capital these days! We wanted to pay you a visit, but we heard you've been staying at the History Bureau's duty room these days. I woke up this morning and heard the rooster crow. So it's you two gentlemen who have arrived. What a great honor to be here!"

Manager Huang hurried back to fetch the village register, while Shen Shixing said to Su Ze:
"This Steward Huang is a retainer of the current Suzhou prefect. He's efficient and efficient. If you have anything to do, just let him handle it."

Shen Shixing added:
"But for us, the upright officials, although ice and charcoal tributes are the official rules, it is still a bad custom. If Brother Su is short of money, just come to my house to withdraw money. Don't let those censors find an excuse."

Su Ze quickly expressed his gratitude to Shen Shixing, and he immediately understood what Shen Shixing meant.

The guild hall is the Beijing office, and Manager Huang is the director of the Beijing office, and a close confidant of the current Suzhou prefect.

In his previous life, Su Ze also understood that the job of the Beijing Office was to build relationships in the capital under the pretext of connecting with fellow countrymen.

Both Shen Shixing and himself were considered rising stars in the court, and they were in key departments.

Shen Shixing was reminding himself that if Manager Huang offered him a bribe, he should be more cautious.

Although they didn't talk about money during their daily interactions, it was obvious that Shen Shixing was not short of money.

Shen Shixing's original surname was Xu. His adoptive father was the prefect of Suzhou. Later, he became the top scorer in the imperial examination and returned to his ancestral home.

The Shen family was also a wealthy family in Suzhou Prefecture. Naturally, the whole family warmly welcomed the arrival of a top scholar who had returned to their roots.

Shen Shixing's wife, Wu, was also a famous local squire in Suzhou Prefecture. She owned several silk weaving workshops in the city, and the dowry she brought with her at the wedding filled an entire street.

Not only Shen Shixing, Shen Yikuan also came from a big family. His uncle Shen Mingchen was very talented and prestigious in the southeast, and he associated with big figures.

Even Luo Wanhua came from a wealthy peasant family, and his family had large tracts of fertile land from his ancestors.

Bah, the evil feudal landlord class.

After a while, Manager Huang took out the village register, held it high and said to Su Ze:

"Editor Su, please leave your calligraphy."

The so-called hometown register is the place where famous people from Suzhou Prefecture in Beijing have their names recorded. Whether in ancient times or modern times, fellow townsmen are valuable political resources.

Su Ze had also participated in a fellow townsman gathering in his previous life, but at that time he held a low official position, so he only attended a few banquets and never went again.

After leaving his name, another broker was led to Su Ze.

"Ya Ren" means intermediary. Specialized intermediaries began to appear in the Song Dynasty. Some of them introduced servants, while others were real estate agents.

Sure enough, things became much easier after finding the right channel. The broker was quite smart. He took Su Ze on a quick tour and found a suitable house.

Along the way, Manager Huang followed him closely, which made Su Ze understand what the corrupt landlord class was.

Finally, when the decision was made, Steward Huang stepped forward and said:

"Editor Su, this house is a pawnshop, and the rent will be paid by the Guild Hall. You may live here for now. This kind of thing happens all the time in the capital, and the censors won't impeach you for it."

Su Ze looked at Manager Huang. He was indeed a man worthy of being the director of the Beijing office. He could actually bribe him by pawning his house.

(End of this chapter)