Rent reduction movement in song dynasty: rent reduction in heavy rain and snow.

During the Southern Song Dynasty, Song Gaozong initiated the rent reduction movement.

In the early years of the Southern Song Dynasty, Song and Jin confronted each other and fought many tough battles. The golden army of the Song Dynasty was bloodied, and the treasury of the Song Dynasty was empty. Seeing that there was no military success, the two countries began to engage in spy wars: sending spies to each other's territory, spying on information, distributing leaflets, inciting the masses and shaking people's hearts.

In the third year of the establishment of Song Gaozong, Xu Jin sent a large number of spies to sneak into important cities in the south of the Yangtze River, such as Hangzhou, Jiangsu, Zhenjiang and Nanjing, and posted posters in the streets of downtown areas at night, while promoting Xu Jin's political clarity, strong national strength, low prices and clear rivers and seas, while attacking the political darkness, weak national strength, soaring prices and national failure of the Southern Song Dynasty. In addition, those posters specifically pointed out that the housing prices and rents in the Southern Song Dynasty were too high for middle-class families and poor people to afford. People who fled from the north have no place to stand, and the cost of living is much higher than that of Jin Guo. If you want to live a good life, you must overthrow this corrupt and incompetent Southern Song Dynasty court and welcome the arrival of the Jin army.

These posters are not all rumors. At that time, the Southern Song Dynasty was really overcrowded, and house prices and rents were really high. Jiangnan indigenous people who have houses turned to charter companies and made a fortune, while new immigrants who have no houses can only tighten their belts and silently endure high rents. There are still many poor refugees who can't afford the rent and have to sleep on the streets. Therefore, the people in the Southern Song Dynasty saw the posters posted by Xu Jinguo's spies, and immediately produced a * * * sound, which shook people's hearts for a time and aroused public excitement. Song Gaozong was so frightened that he immediately issued imperial edicts to reduce the rent of urban residents in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces. Renting public houses can be exempted from paying rent for three months; If you rent a private house, you can only pay half of the original rent; If the landlord dares to overcharge, you can sue them at the yamen, and * * * will make a decision for you.

Song Gaozong's imperial edict lightened the burden of new immigrants, and since then, people's hearts have been stable and the political situation has been stable. At the same time, this paper imperial edict also started the rent reduction movement in the Southern Song Dynasty. Later, when Song Xiaozong, Song Guangzong, Song Ningzong and Song Lizong were in power, they all issued rent reduction notices frequently: heavy rain in summer, heavy snow in winter, rent reduction in earthquake, rent reduction in solar eclipse, rent reduction on Emperor Tai's birthday, and rent reduction for the queen's big baby. Therefore, Zhou Mi, an old man in the Southern Song Dynasty, said in The Legend of the Old Wulin: "People are arrogant not only because of customs, but also because of the growth of buildings. If you live in a house, you will move to a public house or a private house, otherwise you will not be able to pay it in the last G. " This means that although the rent in Lin 'an City is expensive, the court will reduce it, and sometimes you don't have to pay a penny of rent all year round.