Wang Sheng nodded, it seems that Yuan Shikai has been prepared for a long time, but the working group does need a suitable place to live and work, so it is good to go with Yuan Shikai to have a look, and if it is suitable, then talk to Yuan Shikai about the conditions. So he said: "Okay, since this is the case, there is Governor Lao Yuan." ”

After speaking, Wang Sheng asked Zhang Zhengjie, the commander of the first regiment, to lead the troops to the barracks to settle down, and he took the working group and a platoon of troops to enter Jinan City with Yuan Shikai to see his residence.

Yuan Shikai ordered Feng Guozhang to lead the People's Army to the barracks, and especially emphasized that the People's Army must be settled, and then led Wang Sheng and others through the Shuntian Gate in the south of the inner city and entered the city of Jinan.

Jinan is known as the "spring city", is a rare city with more water in the north, known as "lotus flowers on all sides and willows on three sides, a city with mountains and half a city lake", and at this time the damage of man-made ecology is not heavy, so even if it is in Jinan City, you can see spring water canals everywhere, green water and blue waves, as well as residual lotus dots, river boats shuttle, willows on the shore, to quite a taste of Jiangnan water town.

Yuan Shikai's house lives in the northwest of Jinan City, the southwest shore of Daming Lake, built on the back of the lake, not far from the Jinan Mansion and the Governor's Yamen, only about a kilometer, it can be said that the traffic is indeed very convenient.

Wang Sheng and others turned around in the house, this house is according to the traditional Chinese axis symmetrical layout, roughly a rectangle, about 40 meters horizontally, about 80 meters longitudinally, Qingtang tile house, gray brick Zhu Zhu, divided into three courtyards, the first courtyard is the largest, accounting for almost half of the house, the second and third courtyards are roughly equivalent, and the third courtyard is on the shore of Daming Lake, and there is also a small trestle bridge built by the lake, leading to a pavilion in the water, and there are several ships of different sizes moored on the edge of the trestle bridge. You can enjoy the scenery of the lake or go boating.

The traversers are very satisfied with this house, in the old time and space, this is definitely the standard of a sanatorium, so if they can live here, office and leisure will not be delayed, so many people in private said to Wang Sheng that it is best to rent here.

So Wang Sheng asked Yuan Shikai and said, "Governor Yuan, I don't know how much rent you want for this house." ”

Yuan Shikai laughed and said, "If you want to rent, the annual rent will be 5,000 taels of silver, and if you want to buy this house, it will cost 35,000 taels of silver." After a pause, he said: "I don't hide it from Director Wang, the original owner of this house is the younger brother of the Eight Banners stationed in Shandong, which belongs to the blue flag, I heard that the ancestor is still from Baylor, has a hereditary title, and is also regarded as a hardcore crop, but in the middle of this second-generation family, the land and real estate have been sold but still unable to make ends meet, so I had to transfer this ancestral house." After I took office in Shandong, I always wanted to buy a house in Jinan City for a long-term plan, and I also took a fancy to the scenery of this house, so I bought this house. At that time, the master offered 30,000 taels of silver, and I also went to 27,000 taels of silver to sell, and then I re-decorated and repaired and spent more than 2,000 taels, originally wanted to work in Shandong for a few more years, so I also set up a home here, that I know that it is also the blessing of the noble people, less than two years, I will change to other places, this house I keep is not much use, if you really want to buy, it is really good, the land price by the Daming Lake has risen by three percent in the past two years, so I only sell 35,000 taels of silver, which is a very fair price。 ”

The eight flags of the Qing court are divided into the upper three flags are yellow, inlaid yellow, and white, and the lower five flags are inlaid with white, red, inlaid with red, and inlaid with blue. In addition to a few guarding the capital, a large number of the five banners were sent to various places to guard them, so many bannermen took root in various countries. Moreover, the Qing court stipulated that banner men were not allowed to work, but were only allowed to serve as soldiers and errands. After the banner man becomes a soldier, he can make up for the shortage of soldiers in the flag, and receive monthly salary and military rations, simply put, the state pays to support the flag man, so it is called an iron crop.

However, as time passed, the population of the Eight Banners increased, and the number of soldiers was fixed. As a result, the eldest and second brother in the family may make up for the shortage and eat food, while the brothers below have no skills and rely on their ability to serve as officials and serve in the army, so they have to eat rice at home. There are also some children of the Eight Banners who have huge living expenses and disdain to learn crafts and work, and as a result, their families fall into the middle of the road, which is an ordinary phenomenon in the middle and late Qing court, and it is not an exception.

Wang Sheng nodded, the crossing group still tends to buy a few properties in Jinan, although the prefect yamen and the governor yamen belong to the crossing group in the future, but the place is definitely not enough, because the Qing court's official system is very backward, there are only a dozen official officials in a government, and the political, financial and military are all together, and Jinan is the capital of Shandong, and it will definitely be the provincial capital in the future, so it needs a provincial government and a municipal government, which requires the purchase of more real estate in Jinan.

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

However, although the working group set off from Qingdao with 50,000 taels of silver activity funds, 35,000 taels of silver is not a small amount in this era, and the working group does not have the right to use such a large amount of money at once, and it needs the approval of the executive committee. Governor Yuan, whether it is to rent or buy, you need to report to the superior for approval, and you can only decide after getting the approval of the superior, I can't give you a clear answer now, it will take a few days, but whether this house is rented or bought, we are willing to ask for it, and we can pay a part of the deposit to the governor first. ”

Yuan Shikai said with a smile: "It's easy to say, it's easy to say, if you don't visit, you will move in first, and it's not too late to come to discuss rent and buy after you decide, it doesn't matter if you pay the deposit or not, I can trust the you, but if you insist on paying the deposit, you will pay 2,000 taels of silver first." ”

Although Yuan Shikai did not have much contact with the crossing group, he had a basic understanding of the style of the crossing group, knowing that they acted pragmatically, and did not like to be famous, spoke and acted straightforwardly, without so many twists and turns, and paid attention to practical benefits in everything, to the point that it was not taboo to trade interests, but refused to accept it in vain, so the way of dealing with the crossing group was completely different from that in the Qing court. In this way, it is not only easy to communicate with overseas Chinese, but also easy to gain the favor of overseas Chinese. As a result, this time I tried, and it really changed Wang Sheng and the others' attitude towards Yuan Shikai greatly, and the words were much closer.

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

Yuan Shikai said again: " When I bought this house, I bought it with about 60 people who were servants and women, and they had always been the owners of this house, and the owner of the house was unable to support them, so they were transferred to me together with the house, of course, they were all in the house price, and I saw that they were all locals, not only familiar with the house, but also understood the people in the Jinan market, so I left them all behind, and did the people in the house, but I want to go to Beijing to take office, I have my own family to serve, and I will definitely not take them with me, whether you buy or rent, all of them are wrapped together, and the monthly money is only more than 160 taels of silver per month. ”

Wang Sheng was stunned for a moment and said, "Is there such a thing? Can you call all these people out for us to meet?"

Baoyi is a domestic slave, which was originally a kind of personal dependency system within the Eight Banners organization of the Qing Dynasty, owned by the Eight Banners nobles, engaged in housework and production labor, and also fought with the master, and also carried the remnants of the society of the relatively primitive stage of early Manchuria. The status of the coating is basically equivalent to that of a slave, once it becomes a coat, it will be a slave for generations, and the children born to it are still slaves, theoretically speaking, the master has absolute control over the coating, and can kill at will, not only their life, marriage, and residence, but also by the master to arrange, and even can give each other gifts, trade and trade.

After the Qing court entered the customs, the coating system was continued, but after decades of development, although the coating system has not changed, there have been some obvious changes. On the one hand, the nobles of the Eight Banners are affected by the sinicization, and generally do not treat the coat like a slave, relatively more magnanimous, on the other hand, although the identity of the coat is very low, but because of the long time in the master's house, it is easy to gain the trust of the master, and lead to a confidant, if the master's position is high and powerful, even can be promoted and made a fortune, and some outstanding female coats are accepted by the owner, and give birth to offspring for the master, and the status can naturally be improved.

In the early days of the Qing court's entry into the customs, there were constant conquests, and some Baoyi went out with their masters, and they were rewarded for their meritorious service on the battlefield and could obtain military positions; and some Baoyi studied hard by themselves and changed their fate through the imperial examination. Therefore, in the coating, there have also been many prominent figures, the most famous of which is the author of [Dream of Red Mansions] Cao Xueqin, who was born in a family of white flag wrappers, his great-grandmother Sun was Kangxi's nanny, and his grandfather Cao Yin was Emperor Kangxi's companion and imperial guard, so after Kangxi was in power, Cao Yin served as Jiangning weaving, and concurrently served as the salt inspector of the two Huai patrols. In the Kangxi and Yongzheng dynasties, the three generations of the Cao family and four people presided over the weaving of Jiangning for 58 years, the family background was prominent, powerful, extremely rich and noble, and became the first wealthy family in Nanjing at that time, and the world pushed it as a prestigious family.

Since the original owner of this mansion was a hardcore crop, and his ancestors were also broad, it is not surprising that the family has a bunch of coats. When the traversers were visiting the house just now, Yuan Shikai had already ordered these coaters to hide in the room and did not come out, and it was impossible for the traversers to go to see every room, so they were not found. Now that Yuan Shikai heard Wang Sheng say this, he immediately called someone to call out all these coats and let Wang Sheng and others take a look.

After a short time, everyone came to the main hall, divided into men and women standing, a rough look, there are indeed 5, 60 people, and there are all men, women and children, but there are still young and middle-aged men and women, the proportion of men and women is roughly the same, and whether it is dress, complexion, They were very different from ordinary peasants, apparently they had a good diet and nutrition, and most of the men were strong and ruddy-complexed, while the women were all delicate-skinned and well-groomed, and by the standards of the old time and space, most of them were of medium or higher standards, and a few of them could even be regarded as middle-class, and they were indeed servants of large families, much more decent than the masters of ordinary small households.