Early the next morning, Liu Yan came out of the camp sleepily. The banquet last night lasted until late at night. Liu Yan was drunk and dizzy before he came out of the Governor's Mansion and waited in Miao Shao, accompanied by several personal guards. Next, we took an ox cart back to the camp outside the city.
"Next time I won't drink so much!"
Liu Yan rubbed his temples, which were a little swollen and painful. Last night, he drank all the Shaoguo wine produced by Dapanbao Winery. After drinking two bottles, he had reached the limit.
"grown ups."
Miao Shao walked over with a smile and handed over a water bag: "There is sour soup in this. I heard it is good for hangovers. Please drink some."
Liu Yan took it and took a big sip. As expected, it was refreshing and the discomfort after a hangover was relieved a lot.
"Where did this come from?"
"There are some for sale in the city. They are only sold in the morning. I just sent someone to buy them."
"I'm determined."
"grown ups!"
Miao Shao came closer and whispered, "Sir, when will we withdraw our troops?"
Liu Yan looked at Miao Shao, who was eager to return home, and asked in surprise: "Why, you have no family matters, so you are in a hurry to go back?"
Miao Shao said with a smile: "This is not a reward of silver, but there will also be rewards from the court. I want to go back and ask someone to help me find a matchmaker and marry a wife."
Liu Yan suddenly became interested and asked, "Is there a suitable candidate?"
"Not yet, that's why I'm anxious. I'm anxious to go back to find a matchmaker. I heard that there is a famous matchmaker in Lingshan Acropolis. After her search, she can find a suitable match."
Liu Yan smiled and said: "Don't worry, I guess it won't be too long."
While he was talking, Liu Yan saw Xu Ming leading a eunuch, and he immediately became cautious, and he didn't have a good impression of the eunuchs in the late Ming Dynasty.
"Come on, let's go over and greet you."
Liu Yan and Miao Shao stepped forward, and saw that the eunuch was very humble, spread his hands with a smile, and said: "The Za family has seen Commander Liu. Commander Liu is so young, but has outstanding military exploits. He is really a young hero. !”
Liu Yan smiled, clasped his fists in thanks, and then said, "My father-in-law is..."
"Haha, the Zajia family is the supervisory eunuch of Prince De's Palace, his surname is Wang Mingyue. Hi! He said he is a supervisory eunuch, but he is actually a slave in Prince De's Palace. He serves His Highness Prince De on weekdays. When something happens, he helps Prince De run around... "
Liu Yan, Xu Ming, and Miao Shao were stunned. This eunuch had the same name as Wang Yue, the general manager of Houyingqian!
Liu Yan politely stopped Wang Yue, the chattering supervisory eunuch, and said, "I wonder what my father-in-law has to say here?"
Wang Yue said with a smile: "Haha, it was King De who summoned him. Isn't this the withdrawal of the slave bandits? Governor Lu and Governor Yan went to Prince De's Mansion this morning and repaid part of the money and food they borrowed on credit to King De. They mentioned this battle by the way. A great hero and good general. As the number one hero, Commander Liu is the first to be recommended. When the court discusses merit and rewards, Commander Liu will at least be a general!"
Seeing that eunuch Wang Yue was about to chatter again, Liu Yan hurriedly said with a smile: "Since His Highness King De has summoned us, let's leave as soon as possible. Excuse me, please come to the tent later. I will go change my clothes right away. Let's go right away." Set off."
"Okay! Commander Liu is indeed a quick talker, and the Za family likes it..."
Xu Ming hurriedly and respectfully invited Wang Yue to the Chinese army's tent. At the same time, Liu Yan pulled Miao Shao over and whispered, "I'm going to prepare. You go prepare fifty taels of silver and give it to the eunuch later."
Miao Shao looked reluctant and muttered: "This damn eunuch is so cheap!"
Not long after, Liu Yan put on the official uniform of a commander, rode the war horse rewarded by Emperor Chongzhen, entered the city with the supervising eunuch Wang Yue, and went straight to Prince De's Mansion.
Liu Yan has never been to Prince De's Mansion, but he has heard some interesting stories about Prince De's Mansion. Before traveling, he even visited Prince De's Mansion in Jinan. However, he doesn't know how big the Prince De's Mansion in this era is compared to Prince De's Mansion in later generations. It’s different.
Prince De's Mansion was expanded on the basis of Zhang Rong's Mansion in the Yuan Dynasty. Zhang Rong was originally from Jinan. When Zhang Rong was young, Jinan was still ruled by the Jin people. In order to resist the oppression of the Jin people, Zhang Rong led a group of Jinan people to launch an uprising. The rebels occupied Xiaotang Ridge and fought fiercely with the Jin army for many years.
Then Genghis Khan, Taizu of the Yuan Dynasty, launched a war against the Jin Dynasty and captured Shandong in one fell swoop. Zhang Rong immediately led an army of 500,000 to join the Yuan army. Zhang Rong led the vanguard force to cross the Yellow River and captured more than 50 warships, achieving great military exploits. . Taizu of the Yuan Dynasty conferred upon him the title of Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, the Minister of Shandong Province, and the Marshal of the Military and Horse Command, and he was informed of the affairs of Jinan Prefecture. Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine the splendor of Zhang Rong's mansion.
Accompanied by the eunuch Wang Yue, Liu Yan entered through the main entrance of Prince De's Mansion. Along the way, he saw the splendor and extravagance of the Ming Dynasty Prince's Mansion.
The Ming Dynasty had strict regulations on the establishment of royal palaces: the palaces of vassal princes could only be half the size of the Forbidden City, and could not exceed it. Prince De's Mansion is 150 feet, two inches and a half wide from east to west, and 197 feet, two inches and a half long from north to south. The city is two feet and nine feet high, and the walls are thick: six feet wide at the bottom and two feet wide at the top.
The area of the Royal City is equivalent to half the area of the Forbidden City, which is relatively small. The actual buildings start from County East Lane in the east and end at Furong Street in the west; facing the main road of Zhoucheng in the front and Houzaimen Street in the back.
There are three main halls built in the Dewang Palace, namely Chengyun Hall, Wan Hall and Cunxin Hall, as well as the main palace, east palace and west palace.
There are palace walls more than two feet high around the palace. There is a tall archway in front of the palace, with the inscriptions "Qin Cheng Shang Ming" and "Shou Qi State" on the forehead. There are palace gates on all four sides of the palace: the south gate is called "Duanli", the east gate is called "Tiren", the west gate is called "Zunyi", and the north gate is called "Guangzhi". There are archways in front of each door. There is a brick screen wall outside the main entrance. There is a semicircular wall behind the screen wall. There are two doors in the east and west, namely the East Gate and the West Gate, for people to enter and exit.
The Pearl Spring in Prince De's Mansion and Zhuoying Lake to the north are the Xiyuan. There is Yuancheng Pavilion built on the Pearl Spring, and behind the pavilion are Xiaoyou Hall and Yanjuzhai. At this time, the Baiyun Tower built by the Yuan people had collapsed. Zhu Jianlin, the first German king, built the Zhuoying Pavilion on the ruins of the old building and built a rockery on the north bank of Zhuoying Lake. Zhuoying Lake was formed by the gathering of Pearl, Sanshui, and Xiting springs. It was about dozens of acres wide at that time. The lake water flows from south to north, bypassing the rockery, and then flows out of the palace wall. You can go boating in the lake, the water is rippling, the shadows of clouds are reflected in the waves, and the scenery is beautiful.
In addition, Zhu Jianlin also dug the Yudai River in the palace to communicate with the Qushui River to the west of the palace, and built a painted boat for Zhu Jianlin and his concubines to have fun in Zhuoying Lake. There are no fancy cars and fast cars, but there are no painted boats and light boats. Climbing high and looking into the distance, you can see the green mountains in the south and the shining silver of the Yellow River in the north. It looks like a royal palace and garden outside the capital.
King Virtue had no time to participate in politics, and he indulged himself in the sensuality of dogs and horses all day long, banqueting and dancing, playing and singing every day, and enjoying the wealth and splendor of the world. He once composed a poem on Zhuoying Lake: "The moon is shining brightly above Yinyue Pond, and the owner once took the crown of Zhuoying here. He is willing to praise the scenery as extraordinary in the world, but he loves the holy and pure." According to this, this prince monopolized the lake and spring. The pride is evident.
However, there was a missing corner in the northwest of Prince De's palace. Liu Yan also heard about it, so he asked the eunuch Wang Yue about it.
It was learned that this place was originally the residence of the resident Mao family. In order to expand the palace, King De paid a huge sum of money to buy Mao's house. Mao refused, which angered King De and took Mao's two sons into the palace. Mao Er threw himself into the lake and died in protest. So the neighbors gathered and protested to King De, but King De had to give in. Therefore, the palace was finally missing a corner.
Every time Mao Er was thrown into the lake on the first day of the sixth lunar month in the lunar calendar, street neighbors would gather on the lake to row boats and pay tribute to commemorate Mao Er who rebelled against the palace. Wang Xiangchun, a poet in the late Ming Dynasty, wrote a poem to praise Mao Er's actions. The poem said: "Xianyang's official palace has become dust, and Mao Er's humble dwelling can seriously cry ghosts when the city collapses in June. When will the autumn rain wipe out the green phosphorus."
Liu Yan walked in Prince De's Mansion and saw pavilions and pavilions all along the way. Everything was resplendent, with stone bridges, winding paths, exotic flowers and trees, and towering ancient trees. It was extremely luxurious.
Liu Yan followed the supervising eunuch Wang Yue and passed through the three main halls and walked towards the inner palace. At the same time, the eunuch Wang Yue also chattered quite proudly, introducing the situation of Prince De's Mansion to Liu Yan, as if he was showing off to Liu Yan.
"Commander Liu doesn't know something. Our Prince's Mansion consists of the Chief History Department, the Inquisition Department, the Ceremony Department, the Qunmu Department, the Jishan Department, the Dianbao Department, the Dianshan Department, the Ceremony Department, the Sacrifice Department, and the Gongzheng Department. Good medical clinics and other institutions are located in the palace..."
While talking, Liu Yan came to an elegant garden in the inner courtyard. He saw a bamboo forest rarely seen in the north planted in the elegant garden, and a winding stream flowed through the bamboo forest.
When Liu Yan walked into Yayuan, he felt as if he was instantly transported to the Zhuge Temple outside Chengdu. He had to admire the luxury of Prince De's Mansion.
"Haha, Commander Liu, please come in. His Royal Highness King De, Lu Duchen, and Yan Futai are inside."
Eunuch Wang Yue respectfully opened the door of a house. After Liu Yan thanked him, he walked in.
I saw that the furnishings in the house were very elegant, and there was no shortage of guqin, sandalwood, famous paintings, and tea. Liu Yan had to admire King De's taste. At least in terms of "decoration", his taste was good, and he could leave behind future generations. The so-called celebrity streets.
"The last general, Liu Yan, the conduct officer of Lingshan Guard, pays homage to His Royal Highness King De, and meets with the Governor and Futai!"
King De Zhu Youjue said with a smile: "Commander Liu, please excuse yourself and take your seat."
Lu Xiangsheng and Yan Jizu also smiled and asked Liu Yan to take a seat. There was an empty seat in the room, a futon sewn with gold thread, and a dining table made of golden nanmu, which made Liu Yan stunned.
After Liu Yan took his seat, he saw that there were only four delicacies on the table, namely blackfish lips, dry-stirred venison, steamed bear paws with honey, and wine-roasted abalone. There was also a soup. Liu Yan looked at it carefully. The ingredients turned out to be shark fin and scallops.
De Wang Zhu Youli said with a smile: "I heard that Commander Liu drank a lot of wine at the celebration banquet last night. You might as well try this soup first. This is not an ordinary shark's fin, the soup base is made of tiger Bone and elephant soup stock."
Liu Yan just took a polite sip, and almost spit it out after listening to it. This is too damn extravagant!
"If these vassal kings save the money and food for their enjoyment and spend it all on military strength, it is estimated that the Ming army will be equipped with Dongfeng 41. How could the world situation be so corrupted!"
Liu Yan thought secretly in his heart, and at the same time he felt disgusted with these Ming vassal kings. Since Emperor Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the vassal kings from various places have been raised like pigs. The original intention was to prevent the vassal kings from causing rebellion, but the result was a huge financial burden on the court.
"One day when I can take power, I will definitely punish these feudal kings, otherwise there will be no reason left in the world!"
Lu Xiangsheng looked at Liu Yan who was thoughtful and said, "The governor is going to let all the soldiers return to their bases to rest. After hearing this, His Highness King De will entertain you. This is a favor. Commander Liu must remember it."
Yan Jizu also said: "Commander Liu can form a good relationship with His Royal Highness King De, and he will benefit a lot."
When Liu Yan heard this, he understood that the two of them were trying to remind him, so he stood up and clasped his fists and said, "Your Highness's kindness in knowing me will always be remembered in my heart!"
Zhu Youli said with a smile: "Commander Liu is very polite. This time he defeated the army of slave thieves and saved our palace. Commander Liu has done a great job for his hard work. It's not as good as this. Although the good news has been sent to the capital, the reward from the imperial court still needs to be handed down." In a few days, I will go above and beyond and give Commander Liu some rewards first."
Some people died, but not completely...
