The construction project of Laoshan Palace has lasted for several years. Now it can only be said that it is beginning to take shape, but it is still early to be fully completed!
Different from the careless attitude during the construction of palaces in Nanjing City, Zhu Cixiang spent a lot of money and thought on the construction of Laoshan Palace.
Let’s talk about capital first, but looking at the land occupied by Laoshan Palace, we can see how much Emperor Zhu invested!
Laoshan Palace is roughly the area between Laoshan and Chuhe River, including Laoshan. This piece of land is about 36 miles long and nearly 20 miles wide, which is almost 180 square kilometers! Mountainous areas account for more than half of it, and flat land also covers 80 square kilometers...that is, 120,000 acres! These lands alone are worth more than three million taels!
This 120,000 acres of land is divided into four parts. The first is the horse farm, which occupies about 80,000 acres and is located in the middle and east (northeast) of the Laoshan Palace flat area.
The second is the palace, located in the southwest of the Laoshan Palace flat area, covering an area of more than 5,000 acres, similar to the historical Old Summer Palace in Beijing. But it is not that luxurious. The construction cost was less than 3 million taels, and it was all contracted through the Royal Chamber of Commerce - the entire construction cost of Laoshan Palace came from the Royal Chamber of Commerce.
The third is the town, also in the southwest of the Laoshan Palace flat area, covering an area of 15,000 acres. It not only has a market, but also a large number of official residences, yamen and schools - in fact, this is the new administrative center of the Ming Empire. !
When the Laoshan Palace is fully completed, Emperor Zhu and the Ming Dynasty will stay in Laoshan forever during their stay in Nanjing.
The fourth part of the Laoshan Palace plain area is the Laoshan Camp! The camp covers an area of 20,000 acres, including a castle, multiple military camps, warehouses and a military mule and horse farm.
The fifth part of Laoshan Palace is Laoshan itself. Laoshan, which is not very tall, is now surrounded by wooden fences and has become a hunting ground.
The reason why Emperor Zhu wanted to establish a "new capital" in Laoshan, which was very close to the economic center of the Ming Dynasty (actually it was not a new capital, it had not yet emerged from the Tianfu realm), was to effectively control the economic center while It is possible to cultivate the martial arts of the aristocratic children, and at the same time, it can keep away from the proletariat in Nanjing... Zhu Cixiang has never forgotten that he is a feudal monarch, and he does not like any bourgeois revolution or proletarian revolution at all!
Of course, he is not afraid now! Whoever dares to make a revolution will be killed first!
The question is, can Zhu Hexing be able to suppress it in the future? This is really worrying...
Emperor Zhu had just come out of Tangquan Palace where he and Wu Sanmei lived. He was riding a broken-eared horse and walking in the spacious and peaceful Laoshan Palace with a group of palace maids, eunuchs and guards. He remembered that he had brought a group of dolls with him yesterday. The soldiers went hunting in Laoshan.
The so-called "child soldiers" are the students of Laoshan Middle School Boys' School and the scouts of Laoshan Camp Youth Camp.
Most of the former are children of nobles, and the remaining ones are the sons of "good creditors of the Ming Dynasty" who bought many Hongxing six-year first-issue bonds.
The latter are young men selected from the Babian vassal towns, that is, Pingxi, Shuofang, Huaibei, Xuhai, Nanyang, Eastern Sichuan, Western Sichuan, Liaodong, etc. - because the war with the Yeerqiang Khanate is still going on, so The roads in Beiting are not ordinary, so no children from Beiting come to Laoshan Camp.
Most of the Scouts are from military backgrounds, and some are from civilian backgrounds. Basically, they are all bitter... Although Scouting is a "ladder to heaven", the conditions are very harsh! Joining the Scouts is "selling to the royal family", and you are not allowed to correspond with your family until you officially join the army (that is, complete Scout training and pass the assessment)!
After joining the army, unless you are admitted to the martial arts hall and officially leave the "Youth Army" establishment, you are not allowed to get married and start a family until you reach the age of 36 and retire.
In other words, as long as you are a Scout, you are not allowed to get married and have children.
Once you are admitted to the military academy (must be recommended by military merit) and have your own official career, you no longer belong to the Scouts, and officers with a Scout background are prohibited from returning to serve in the Scouts for life!
In other words, most of the officers who will command the Scouts in the future will be students of Laoshan Middle School Boys' School.
Now two groups of teenagers got together, riding horses, hunting, and hunting with flintlock guns. It was really lively. However, after working for a long time, I didn't catch a few small animals - most of the small animals that Emperor Zhu bought with money are now living happily in the woods of Laoshan.
It seems that hunting in Laoshan needs to be done more... A group of "rich sons" must be allowed to practice more with the young scouts. From now on, the Ming Dynasty will rely on them to support it!
"Your Majesty, Yanshan Palace has arrived." Huang Xiaobao's voice sounded in Zhu Cixiang's ears.
Emperor Zhu looked up and saw a half-Chinese and half-Western-style palace with a brick and wood structure standing on a hillside in front of him.
This is Yanshan Palace, Emperor Zhu's residence in Laoshan Palace. The reason why it was named "Yanshan" was to show that he would not forget to recover the land of Yanyun.
Yanshan Palace is not too far from Tangquan Palace, that is, more than four miles away. The hill it is located on is not high. It is just a hilltop on the edge of the northern foot of Laoshan. After passing this hilltop, there is a small valley with a courtyard built in it, called Jinzhuju, which is the residence of the candidate candidate of Dongguo Gege, now named Jin Dongzhu.
In order to "select" Jin Dongzhu into the palace, Emperor Zhu held a special draft. He did not select nationwide, but selected in Jiangnan and Jiangbei. It was quite grand, but in the end only two people were selected, one was Jin Dongzhu, and the other was Xu Erlin, who was Xu Guangqi's niece? She is not too beautiful, she is just a gentle and graceful waterside woman, a little pretty, but very talented. She disguises herself as a man and wants to take the Taixue College Entrance Examination in the fifth year of Hongxing. However, I was not able to enter the examination room, but I still completed the examination paper outside the examination room with the approval of the examiner.
The test paper finally got into the hands of Emperor Zhu, and he actually did very well in the test, which made Zhu Cixiang interested in this talented girl, so during this draft, he wrote a personal letter inviting her to participate.
After she got the letter, she actually came to Nanjing...
So Zhu Cixi now has six wives and concubines, and Princess Jianning, who is about to enter the palace, will be his seventh wife and concubines... How corrupt!
When the increasingly corrupt emperor entered Yanshan Palace, Sun Fugui, Hou Fangyu and Ban Bulshan were already there, waiting to be summoned.
"Princess Jianning is here?" Zhu Cixiang didn't expect that Shunzhi would actually give Ajige the title of Princess Gu Lun Jianning. He didn't know if it was the one who married Wu Yingxiong in history? So I was a little interested, and they started asking about Hou Fangyu when they saw him.
"Already arrived," answered Tian Shuchen, who is now the manager of Laoshan Palace. "I am dressing up and changing into the clothes of Han women."
"Okay!" Zhu Cihong nodded, "Then I'll see you later...your name is Banbulshan?" He looked at the messenger again and asked with a smile: "You are from the Aixinjueluo family. ?”
"I am the grandson of Taizu Taizu of the Qing Dynasty." Banbulshan replied.
"Can I see Fulin when I go back?"
"Yes," Bumble said kindly, "I am the chief bodyguard of the Qing Dynasty."
"That's good... when you go back, tell Fulin that you want to drain the Yellow River as soon as possible!" Zhu Cixiang smiled, "When the weather turns cooler in late autumn this year, there won't be much water in the Yellow River, and there will be no point in draining it again!"
"Why did your Majesty say this?" Bambulshan broke out in cold sweat on his forehead.
Emperor Zhu still looked cheerful and unconcerned, "What kind of camps are you building on both sides of the Yellow River? Isn't it just to facilitate the digging of the river mouth? I have done this so many times, don't I know?"
Bambulshan was stunned. In fact, he had just heard about this. He knew about the construction of the north and south camps on the Yellow River, but he really didn't know about the plan to dig a dam on the Yellow River.
Just when he didn't know how to explain it, the eunuch's voice remembered: "Princess Gu Lun Jianning has arrived."
Ajige had already dressed up, and came timidly, but not coy at all. He followed an elderly palace maid in and knelt down before Emperor Zhu. After kowtowing a few times, he knelt and sat there, looking up. He raised his face and looked at Zhu Cihong.
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