Wang Sheng nodded. It seemed that Yuan Shikai had prepared for a long time, but the working group did need a suitable place for living and office, so it would be better to go and have a look with Yuan Shikai. If it is appropriate, then negotiate with Yuan Shikai. So he said, "Okay, since that's the case, there will be a problem for Governor Yuan."

After saying that, Wang Sheng asked the first regiment commander Zhang Zhengjie to lead the troops to the military camp for resettlement, and he led a platoon of troops in the working group and went to Jinan City with Yuan Shikai to see his residence.

Yuan Shikai ordered Feng Guozhang to lead the People's Army to the military camp, and emphasized that the People's Army must be placed well, and then led Wang Sheng and others through Shuntian Gate in the south of the inner city and into Jinan City.

Jinan is known as the "Foun City" and is one of the rare water-rich cities in the north. It is known as "lotus on all sides and willows on three sides, one city with mountains and half a city and lake". Moreover, the damage caused by artificial ecology is not heavy at this time. Therefore, even in Jinan, springs and canals, green waters and blue waves, and there are still lotus spots, rivers and boats shuttle, and the willows on the bank are quite smelling like a water town in the south of the Yangtze River.

Yuan Shikai's house lives in the northwest of Jinan City, on the southwest bank of Daming Lake, and is built behind the lake. It is not far from the Jinan Prefecture and Governor's Office, only about a thousand meters away. It can be said that the transportation is indeed very convenient.

Wang Sheng and others walked around the house. The house was generally rectangular in accordance with the traditional Chinese central axis symmetrical layout, about 40 meters horizontally and about 80 meters vertically. Qingtang tiles and gray brick red pillars are divided into three courtyards. The first courtyard is the largest, accounting for almost half of the house. The second and third courtyards are roughly the same. The third courtyard is next to Daming Lake, and a small trest bridge is built by the lake, leading to a pavilion in the water. Several boats of varying sizes are moored by the trest bridge. You can enjoy the scenery on the lake or enjoy boats.

Time travelers are very satisfied with this house. In the old time and space, this was definitely the standard of a sanatorium. Therefore, if you can live here, you will not delay your office and leisure. Therefore, many people told Wang Sheng privately that it is best to rent it.

So Wang Sheng asked Yuan Shikai: "Governor Yuan, I don't know how much rent your house costs."

Yuan Shikai laughed and said, "If you want to rent, the rent for a year will be 5,000 taels of silver; if you want to buy this house, it will be 35,000 taels of silver." After a pause, he said, "I don't hide it from Director Wang that the original owner of this house was the Eight Banners Jidi, who was stationed in Shandong. He belonged to the Inlaid Blue Banner. I heard that his ancestors were born in Beile and had a hereditary title, which was also considered a hard-core crop. However, after this second generation of families, the land and real estate were sold, but they still had to make ends meet, so I had to transfer the ancestral home. After taking office in Shandong, I always wanted to buy a house in Jinan City for a long-term solution.

I took a fancy to the scenery of this house and bought it. At that time, the owner offered 30,000 taels of silver, but I sold it for 27,000 taels of silver. Later, I redecorated it and spent more than 2,000 taels of silver. I originally thought that I would work in Shandong for a few more years, so I also built a home here. I know that it is also a blessing for the nobles. In less than two years, I changed my place to another place. It would be useless for me to keep this house. If the nobles really wanted to buy it, it would be really good. The land price by the Daming Lake in the past two years has increased by 30%, so I only sold 35,000 taels of silver, which is a very fair price."

The Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty were divided into the upper three banners, the upper three banners were yellow, the yellow, the right white, the lower five banners were white, the right red, the right blue, and the left blue. After entering the pass, the upper three banners were mainly stationed in Beijing, guarding the imperial city, and serving as the emperor's guarding the emperor's guarding the capital. In addition to a few guarding the capital, the Lower Five Banners were sent to various places to guard the guards, so many bannermen took root in various countries. Moreover, the Qing court stipulated that bannermen were not allowed to work, and were only allowed to serve in the army and serve. After the bannermen became a member, they could make up for the vacancies in the banner and receive monthly salary and military rations. Simply put, the country paid money to support the bannermen, so they were called iron-core crops.

However, as time goes by, the population of the Eight Banners has increased, and the number of soldiers is fixed. Therefore, the eldest and second brothers in the family may make up for the shortage and eat food. If the brothers below do not have a skill and rely on their ability to serve as officials and join the army, they have to be idle at home and eat free meals. And some Eight Banners children spend a lot of money on their lives and are disdainful of learning skills to work, so their family has fallen into decline. This situation is an ordinary phenomenon in the middle and late Qing court, not an isolated case.

Wang Sheng nodded. The Time Travel Group still tends to buy several properties in Jinan. Although the prefect and the Governor's yamen belong to the Time Travel Group in the future, the place is definitely not enough, because the Qing court's official system was very backward. There were only a dozen official officials in a government, and the government, finance and economic army were all together. Moreover, Jinan is the capital of Shandong, and it will definitely be the provincial capital in the future. Therefore, a provincial government and a municipal government are needed. For the Time Travel Group that adopts the modern government system, it is certainly unwilling to work only in the prefect and the Governor's yamen. It is necessary to expand the administrative needs. In addition, the dormitory of civil servants must be considered, which requires purchasing more real estate in Jinan.

When he was in Qingdao, Wang Sheng also inquired about the house prices in Jinan and knew that the price offered by Yuan Shikai was fair and was basically within a reasonable range. If Yuan Shikai wanted to give this house to a time traveler or sell it at a lower price, Wang Sheng would definitely refuse. However, since Yuan Shikai sold it at a normal market price, the conditions and location of the house were also good, Wang Sheng would naturally consider buying it.

However, although the working group brought 50,000 taels of silver to the activity funds when they set off from Qingdao, 35,000 taels of silver is not a small amount in this era. The working group does not have the right to use such a large amount of funds at once, and it requires approval from the Executive Committee. Therefore, Wang Shengdao: "Governor Yuan, whether it is renting or buying, you need to submit approval from the superiors. You can only make a decision after obtaining approval from the superiors. I cannot give you a clear reply now. It will take a few days. However, we are willing to ask for this house whether it is renting or buying. We can first pay a deposit to the governor."

Yuan Shikai laughed and said, "It's easy to say, you can check in if you don't visit. It's not too late to come and discuss rent and buy after you decide. It doesn't matter whether you pay a deposit or not. I trust you better than you, but if you insist on paying a deposit, you should pay 2,000 taels of silver first."

Although Yuan Shikai did not have much contact with the Time Travel Group, he had a basic understanding of the Time Travel Group's style of action. He knew that they were pragmatic and did not like fame, and spoke straightforwardly. He focused on real profit in everything, and did not avoid profit transactions, but refused to receive money without merit. Therefore, the way of dealing with the Time Travel Group was completely different from that in the Qing court. If you have something to say, don't want to speak but stop, and hide your words. Moreover, if you want to trade interests with overseas Chinese, it is best to have a clear price and make money clear. This is not only easy to communicate with overseas Chinese, but also easy to gain the favor of overseas Chinese. As a result, this time, Wang Sheng and others' attitude towards Yuan Shikai has greatly improved, and their words are much closer.

Wang Sheng nodded and said, "Okay, I'll ask someone to go to the car to get the money."

Yuan Shikai said again: "You can put money in aside first. There is another thing that needs to be told to Director Wang in person. When I bought this house, I bought it with about 60 servants and women. They have always been the owner of the house. The owner of the house was unable to support them, so they transferred it to me together, of course, they were all in the house price. I saw that they were all locals, not only familiar with the house, but also knew the people in Jinan, so I kept them all and became the servants of the mansion. However, I wanted to take office in Beijing and have my own family to serve them. I would definitely not take them with me. Whether it is buying or renting, I would have to buy them together. The monthly money for each month is only more than 160 taels of silver."

Wang Sheng was stunned and said, "There is such a thing? Can we call all these people out for us to see?"

Baoyi is a domestic slave. It turned out to be a personal dependence system within the Eight Banners organization in the Qing Dynasty. It was owned by the Eight Banners nobles, engaged in housework and production labor, and fought with the master. It also carries the remains of the society in the early primitive stages of Manchuria. Baoyi's status is basically equivalent to that of a slave. Once he becomes a Baoyi, he will be a slave for generations, and his children will still be slaves. Theoretically, the master has absolute control over Baoyi and can be killed at will. Not only will their life, marriage, and residence be arranged by the master, but they can even give gifts to each other and trade.

After the Qing court entered the pass, the coating system was used. However, after decades of development, although the coating system did not change, there were some obvious changes. On the one hand, the Eight Banners nobles were generally not treated as slaves, and they were relatively generous. On the other hand, although Baoyi's status was very low, it was easy to gain the trust of the owner and be confidant because he served in the owner's house for a long time and was easily promoted and made a fortune. If the owner had a high position and a heavyweight position, he could even get promoted and make money. Some outstanding female pigtails were taken away by the owner and gave birth to offspring for the owner, and their status could naturally be improved accordingly.

In the early days when the Qing court entered the pass, there were constant wars. Some Baoyi went out with his master, made merits and rewards on the battlefield, and could obtain military positions; and Baoyi studied hard by himself and changed his destiny through the imperial examination. Therefore, there were many prominent figures in Baoyi, including Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of Red Mansions", who was born in the Baoyi family of Zhengbai Banner. His great-grandmother Sun was the nanny of Kangxi, and his grandfather Cao Yin was the companion and guard of Emperor Kangxi. Therefore, after Kangxi took power, Cao Yin served as Jiangning Weaving and served as the censor of the salt supervision and inspection of the two Huaihuai. In the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, four people in the Cao family were in charge of Jiangning Weaving and three generations for 58 years. They had a prominent family, were powerful and extremely noble, and became the first wealthy family in Nanjing at that time and were praised as a prominent family in the world.

Since the original owner of this house was a hard-core crop and his ancestors had been rich, it was not surprising that the family had a bunch of coats. When the travelers were visiting the house just now, Yuan Shikai had already told the coats that they all hid in the room and did not come out, and the travelers could not go to see each room, so they were not discovered. Now that Yuan Shikai heard Wang Sheng say this, he immediately asked someone to call out all of these coats and let Wang Sheng and others see it.
Chapter completed!