Li Yuxuan's place is also very essential. Needless to say, Jing'an District's status in Shanghai in later generations is one of the core districts. Housing prices often start at ten or more.
However, it is true that the southwest corner of Jing'an District is really a wasteland and does not belong to the concession, but the roads in the concession have been built.
The fact that the road was able to be repaired was partly due to Hartung's wife Luo Jialing. She believed in Buddhism very much and often went to Jing'an Temple.
In a few years, even if this land does not belong to it in name, it will basically become a de facto part of the concession.
Building a school in this kind of place, since it is not completely a concession, still allows a certain degree of freedom, which is considered a kind of
"Gray" area. But soon foreigners will also come to this land. After all, it is cheap, and not all foreigners are rich.
Even if the Japanese invaders launched the Songhu Battle decades later, the Japanese did not dare to blatantly disturb the concession in the past few years.
Those who know Sihang Warehouse will definitely know. But some artillery shells actually fell into the concession during the war.
After the Pearl Harbor incident in 1941, Japan and the United States completely broke off and openly occupied the concession.
There is at least a lot of buffer time in between, so the transfer can be carried out. Of course, in addition to this land, there are also places close to the concession and cheaper, such as the edge of the East District of the Shanghai Public Settlement.
The East Area of the Public Settlement is today the area along Pingliang Road in Shanghai to the easternmost edge, surrounded by the Huangpu River.
To the north of this road, in the area adjacent to the concession, especially in the northeast, there are only one or two hundred taels of land per acre.
But it is too far away from the current center of Shanghai. ——Of course, after more than 100 years, that place will be in trouble.
But Li Yu couldn't wait that long, he still had to consider the most urgent immediate issue. Looking at it now, the place chosen by Li Yu is already the optimal solution. It is very close to the current center of Shanghai and is relatively convenient in all aspects. Moreover, in the next few years, the surrounding areas will be developed.
Hartong took a puff of his cigar: "Are you sure about this number?" Li Yu said, "I'm sure." Hartong pondered for a while. For him, that piece of land was a completely empty-handed deal. Indeed, It is not yet part of the concession, so Li Yu will be responsible for the risk if something goes wrong in the future, and he has no risk.
The leading agency of the concession is now called the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau, which is equivalent to the concession government. The Ministry of Industry Bureau is led by a board of directors, which generally has nine directors, which can be understood as the nine most powerful people in the concession.
Hartung is one of them. In the future, there will be Chinese directors on the board of directors of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau, also known as Chinese directors.
One of the more famous Chinese directors is Shanghai Bund Du Yuesheng. Hartung is a real estate developer and is most familiar with matters related to real estate.
He understood that there were not many procedures to go through to sell the land. It was not from a concession anyway, so it saved a lot of trouble.
Otherwise, it would take a long time for the Board of Directors of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce to review such a large transaction. The most important thing is that it can be used to test the attitude of the Qing court again.
After thinking about this, Ha Tong's thinking became clear: "The amount you want is not small. Although I can lower the price appropriately for you, considering the management cost, I can only give you 460 taels at the lowest, and this is only the land price." , in addition to land tax, deed tax, income tax, and stamp duty, value-added tax, business tax, etc. will also be imposed regularly in the future." After all, this is a concession, and the tax system is actually not much different from that of later generations.
If you do the math, the complete tax will account for 40 to 50%. This is the initial stage, and the regular taxes in the future will still be quite a lot.
And going forward, there will be many kinds of taxes in the concession, such as surcharges, education taxes, local teacher taxes, board of directors funds, self-government fees, middle-level fees... Anyway, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau of the concession will not do loss-making business, just one item By placing the largest value-added tax there, you won’t be worried about how land prices will rise in the future. The minimum part of the price increase can be charged an additional 20% value-added tax. However, this tax was collected once every ten years in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.
So 20 acres is almost Li Yu's upper limit. Li Yu knew that he couldn't bargain too much with him, so he said: "I accept this price." Of course, Li Yu knew that the land would rise sharply in the near future, and Hartong said 460 taels. As for how he negotiated with the workers The division of directors of the department is his own business, and he should be given some room for maneuver.
Hartong didn't expect Li Yu to be so happy. After all, buying the land itself was a risky investment, and Li Yu didn't want to invest. Who knows how much money he could make from building a school?
But as a Jew, Hartung's priority is not what his customers want to do, but making money.
Hartong said: "In this case, we can sign a contract. You don't need to do the subsequent procedures. I will handle it myself. But if the water and electricity are to go through, the money will have to be calculated separately." Li Yu knew that this was Hartong's decision. No matter how much I want to point out the benefits of each item, I am not familiar with how the Ministry of Industry and Commerce Bureau operates anyway, so I can only leave this matter to Hartung, so he said: "No problem, of course we need water and electricity, and you can decide the price according to the market." Unexpectedly, I can't do anything today. A big deal was easily achieved. Hartung said happily: "Sir, you are really generous. You are worthy of being a person who shocked the West. You can say that you shocked me today. Do you want to buy a house as well? I'm afraid that your land will be developed." It will take a while, and you have to make more trips to Shanghai." Li Yu asked casually: "What are the housing prices in Shanghai now?" Hartong said: "If you want to buy a house around Nanjing Road, it costs about ten thousand to two. ." Li Yugan was almost frightened. This is just a house. According to the current construction model, this kind of house is usually three to four hundred square meters, which means that one house is equivalent to 20 acres of land near the concession!
What a joke! So Li Yu held back and said, "Actually, I don't come here very often, so renting a house is great!" Hartung added, "That's no problem. The best house rental company in the surrounding area is my Hartung Foreign Company." Okay. Well, it turns out to be both sides.
In fact, many years ago, Hartung noticed the current imbalance in the rental-to-sale ratio in Shanghai. Most of the houses built were only for rent but not for sale.
Anyway, the rent in Shanghai is very high nowadays. Subsequently, people such as Lu Xun suffered from the high rents and housing prices in Shanghai. Lu Xun said in his diary that renting a house with a yard costs 160 yuan a month, which is much more expensive than in Beijing.
Regarding rent, many friends who rent houses in Shanghai in the 21st century actually feel that it is not much different from 100 years ago... So if it is from now - no, you can push it forward another 20 years - we will wait and see after the Sino-French War. As for the Shanghai property market, we have not seen a price reduction for more than 100 years.
In later generations, housing prices in Beijing and Shanghai were similar, but now the gap is really several times higher. As for the reason why housing prices in Shanghai are so high, it is of course the same as in later generations, it is speculation.
Today, 50% to 60% of the UK's investment in Shanghai is in real estate. How can it not be speculated? Although Li Yu knew that if he really spent 10,000 taels to buy a house, it would rise to about 40,000 taels in twenty years, and the buyers were basically foreigners.
It won't even take that long. In just five years, Nanjing Road will usher in a major development, and housing prices will almost rise to 20,000 to 30,000 taels.
But he really doesn't have the spare money now. Moreover, the land has been bought. Wouldn’t it be nice to build an apartment building by yourself?
Hartung quickly brought a contract: "Look at it, the specific land area has not been written in it, but the other terms are fine. As for the land, we can go and take a look at it tomorrow. I am still familiar with the area around Jing'an Temple. Yes, I've been there all over." As a second-generation real estate developer in Shanghai, he is really familiar with the land conditions in the concessions.
After deciding on the meeting place for the next day, Li Yu took his leave and went to Zhang Yuanji's office at the Commercial Press.
Zhang Yuanji was in a good mood after seeing Li Yu's manuscript of the lecture notes: "Your efficiency is so high! With such thickness, I feel that it can be divided into three to four years for teaching." Li Yu took out another mathematics and science textbook Supplementary manuscript to the lecture notes: "Here is my introduction to Western mathematical symbols, which is very necessary as introductory material."
"Sir, you are really thoughtful!" Zhang Yuanji said,
"Fortunately, English is taught in new schools now, so the acceptance level will be better." Li Yu said: "Currently, they can only be promoted in some new schools that also teach English." Li Shanlan's set of heavenly stems and earthly branches replaces mathematical numerical symbols It is indeed too troublesome, and the key point is that it is very unfriendly to the follow-up teaching of mathematics, especially those who are interested in studying abroad. Foreigners do not need this set of text symbols.
Zhang Yuanji said: "I took a look during this period and found that your mathematics and physics lecture notes can also be taught in two to three years." Li Yu said: "I will continue to add more in the future, and strive to continue until high school, oh, before college. Mathematics and physics content are all arranged.” If you can now complete the nine-year compulsory content for future generations, it will be enough to go to college!
Zhang Yuanji added: "Don't forget there is chemistry."
"Don't worry," Li Yu said,
"I'll sort it out for you." It's enough to be able to produce the most basic content in a short period of time. After all, the students in the new school will have to study for several years.
The next day, Li Yu went directly to Jing'an Temple to wait for Hartong as agreed. Jing'an Temple may be most famous in later generations for its incompatibility with the surrounding prosperity and its title of the most expensive temple in the country - the surrounding housing prices are around 150,000, and the land of Jing'an Temple is worth close to 3 billion.
Between the vast world of mortals when the door is open and the mountains and rivers when the door is closed, there is a feeling like a lonely lotus blooming alone in the bustling city.
Anyway, the Jing'an Temple in later generations was very luxurious and looked magnificent. It is said that the guardrails were all made of white marble.
Of course, although the roof of Jing'an Temple is glittering, it is not made of gold. It is called copper tile gold roof, which is copper alloy. The advantage is that it will not rust and will last forever.
Not long after, Hartung and his wife Luo Jialing drove over in a car. This was also a rare thing. There were only a few of them in Shanghai at the moment, and it was an absolute top-notch luxury product.
And just this year, the Shanghai Public Settlement Bureau of Industry and Commerce has just issued official car licenses.
"Mr. Li Yu, I didn't expect you to be faster than me." Hartong said after getting off the car. Li Yu said: "I just arrived too."
"Let's go take a look," Hartung pointed ahead.
"It's over there." Hartung's wife, Luo Jialing, said, "Go and see, I want to go in and recite sutras to Buddha." Although the Jews did not believe in Buddhism, Hartung still respected his wife's beliefs and acted in a decent manner. He said: "My Buddha is compassionate and wishes to save all living beings, Amitabha." Of course, Li Yu did not believe that the Buddha could really save people. Even all Buddhas are not equal, so how can we talk about the equality of all living beings.
He feels that the best effect of this kind of belief is to make people feel calm and have an effect on personal cultivation.
As for the so-called salvation of the world
"Mahayana Buddhism" probably only exists in "Journey to the West". Anyway, when Li Yu saw Luo Jialing dressed in gold and silver, he could only sigh, Buddha saved a rich man.
In his eyes, it is better to seek Buddha than to seek oneself. Only hard work can prosper a country. After walking around the land he bought, Li Yu found that it was as deserted as he imagined.
Although 20 acres of land sounds like a lot, it's actually not that big. It's about the size of an ordinary middle school, and it's still not that big.
However, with Li Yu's current financial resources, he can only buy so much first, so that he can have a foothold and then continue to buy in the future.
Moreover, the enrollment scale of current schools cannot be too large, and there is no need to buy too much land right away. The key is that even if you have money, buying too much at once will attract too much attention from the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.
The long-term plan for the future is naturally to start with at least two hundred acres. In addition, Li Yu thought that it was almost time for the United States to return the Boxer Indemnity, and it would be great if he could get part of it.
The United States did not account for the bulk of the Boxer reparations, but it was still a lot of money. In short, Li Yu still has a lot of ideas, so it is always necessary to get a spot in advance.
Hartung said: "I have arranged for surveyors to measure it yesterday. The entire land is twenty-two and a half acres." Li Yu looked at both sides and saw that it was almost a 100x150 lot, which was quite square.
"Looks pretty good."
"Of course," Hartung said.
"I heard that there is a saying in China called morning bells and evening drums. This place is so close to Jing'an Temple. It is really a good place." Naturally, Hartong wanted to praise him more, but Li Yu had something different in mind, so he followed suit. : "Mr. Hartung also understands Chinese idioms." Hartung said, "I have lived in China for so many years, and if I still can't speak idioms, it would be really a shame for my wisdom." After seeing the land, Hartung could fill it out completely. It was a good contract. Li Yu took another look at it: the land price of 22.5 acres was taels; the tax was 3,600 taels, and the cost of water and electricity was 3,000 taels.
Total two. But this time, you only need to pay half of the land price and the water and electricity costs first. Hartung still has to complete the relevant procedures, which will take two or three months if possible.
So Li Yu actually only delivered 8,175 taels and got the contract. After all, it’s a big deal.
If the procedures were not complete, Li Yu would not dare to use the land. this time
The "southern tour" really cost a lot. Of the 10,000 taels previously deposited in Huzhou, 5,000 taels were paid by Li Yu. With today's addition, more taels were spent at once.
Nearly half of Li Yu's savings were wiped out in an instant. He was really spending money like water. He couldn't find a way to make money.
