Zhu Jingyuan was used to living on the flat floor, and now he was looking at the huge dome above his head.
Thinking that there are two floors above this with the same height, I immediately felt a sense of powerlessness instinctively.
So Zhu Jingyuan said seriously:
"My father and grandpa should go up first to worship heaven and ancestors in the two upper halls. Let's walk around on the ground floor, and then go to the Wenhua Hall."
Lei Hong was originally going to ask Zhu Jingyuan to come up and have a look.
As a result, Zhu Jingyuan said this, and it seemed that Zhu Jingyuan should not be allowed to go up.
It was fine for ordinary workers to go up to work, but Zhu Jingyuan's status was too special, and it was indeed right that the emperor and the supreme emperor should go up first.
So Lei Hong agreed, and then left the main hall with Zhu Jingyuan.
After checking the surrounding side halls, rest areas, canteen and other auxiliary rooms, we went down from the main hall building.
Take the elevator again through the platform area to the ground level and get into the car parked below the side of the steps.
Go around under the heavy platform and go to the building in the southeast.
The two new halls corresponding to Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall are arranged in front of the left and right sides of the main hall.
From a distance, the two halls seem to have no platform, mainly because they are completely inconspicuous compared to the 100-meter-long platform of the main hall.
But if you look closely, you can see that there is actually a platform under the main hall.
But it's only four meters high, and there's an open door below.
Inside that is a ground floor garage.
This is a true daily office palace.
The four-meter-high staircase is equivalent to one floor. You can walk up it normally. If you are lazy, you can also go inside and take the elevator.
Zhu Jingyuan's car stopped for a moment in front of the palace gate.
When the garage door opened, I drove inside the garage to take a look.
The internal structure design of this garage is very similar to the underground garage of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life.
It's just that the entire garage is above ground level.
The floor of the garage is even higher than the ground outside, and a gentle slope is set up for the entrance and exit doors to facilitate going up and down.
The ceiling is also higher, with the floor height already exceeding three meters.
In Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, it could have been a normal floor.
There are also multiple cores inside, as well as denser shear walls.
Therefore, the actual look and feel when standing inside the garage is not like a huge hall-style underground garage.
Instead, it looks like small and medium-sized exhibition halls put together one after another.
Zhu Jingyuan's car was parked in the garage. He took the elevator to the first floor from the garage and came out to the small side hall in front of the main hall.
This side hall can be regarded as a stairwell.
After exiting the stairwell and walking forward, you can go to the main hall in the center.
Lei Hong continued to follow Zhu Jingyuan to introduce the situation:
“The new Wenhua Hall and the Wuying Hall on the west side are highly consistent in layout and symmetrical.
"The height of both halls is one hundred and twenty-eight meters. Except for the four meters at the top and four meters at the bottom, the other floors are every ten meters as one large floor. From the outside, they all look like there are twelve floors. , a total of twelve eaves.
“The height of the dome in the central hall of the two main halls is 60 meters, and there is another 60 meters above the dome. It is designed to be a space integrating life, work, leisure and rest.
"If there is a major emergency that requires your Majesty to pay attention to it for a long time and handle it at any time, your Majesty can temporarily not return to the harem and live directly in the Wenhua Palace or Wuying Palace.
“Or just don’t go upstairs and live on the side of the main hall of Wenhua Hall or Wuying Hall.
"There are living rooms on both sides of the main hall. They are just simpler than those upstairs, but they are also more convenient for handling affairs nearby."
Zhu Jingyuan wandered around the bottom floor of the New Wenhua Hall, but did not go to the upper space either.
The reason is still the same, the emperor should go to the places above first.
Just browsing the bottom two floors, Zhu Jingyuan felt that the design and layout of the new hall were quite good.
The effect of the renovation of the old temple is much better than before.
The most important thing is that the space is extremely spacious, and the offices and conference rooms of the emperor and cabinet are very ample.
But looking at it from another angle, it can also be said that there is a huge waste of space.
The space on the dozens of floors above was said to be for the emperor's emergency accommodation.
But there's no telling whether the emperor will use it or not. The rooms around the main hall are equally ample.
Looking at it this way, for the emperor's daily life and work needs, the side and upper floors of a single main hall are already double backups.
The entire Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall are double backups on a larger scale.
The emperor could only use a small part of one space at the same time, and most of the other three spaces were idle.
However, if calculated this way, the New Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall combined are not as big as the New Fengtian Hall in the middle.
Wenhua Hall and Wuying Hall are still used for daily office work, and they can really come in handy often.
The Fengtian Hall in the middle is purely ritual and symbolic.
After Zhu Jingyuan finished visiting the New Wenhua Hall, he stood on the platform in front of the main hall and looked at the Wuying Hall on the other side.
My mind began to think and analyze society uncontrollably again...
In other words, key policy...
If there were no dynasties, emperors and nobles, would there still be this kind of formal waste?
We can judge by reviewing and analyzing history. As long as the state apparatus still exists, this formal waste cannot be avoided.
As long as the notification class remains, there is no way to avoid the waste of wealth by the ruling class.
The memories and experiences of my two lifetimes have not allowed me to find a truly stable and long-term way to eliminate the country and class.
Since there must always be a ruler and a ruling class, even if you give up, someone else will do it.
When he is already an imperial aristocrat and may even become an emperor, he is already an absolute ruling class or even about to become a direct ruler, and when the existing social productivity is still developing at a high speed, he has no reason to subvert it. and change the existing order.
Even if someone tries hard to do that, he has no chance of success.
When life is relatively stable, as long as they are willing to work normally, they can have enough food and clothing, and have the opportunity to become richer, it is impossible for the vast majority of ordinary people to follow the conspirators to take risks and rebel.
As the ruler and the head of the ruling class, what he has to do is to maintain this situation as long as possible.
Zhu Jingyuan reflected in his heart for a while, and then left the Wenhua Hall under the leadership of Lei Hong.
Take the bus around the Wenhua Hall area and go around to the back of the New Fengtian Hall.
According to the original plan, a wide and regular grassland was designed between the main hall and the harem.
This green space is one kilometer wide from east to west and two kilometers long from north to south.
The tip of the tallest hall in front has a shadow length of only 730 meters at noon on the winter solstice.
The distance between the harem and the harem is two kilometers, so that the harem will not be affected by the main hall in front.
As the motorcade gradually moved away from the main hall, Zhu Jingyuan could vaguely feel that the atmosphere around him became more relaxed.
For people of this era, those huge buildings are really too oppressive.
But it will be fine as soon as you get used to it.
When entering the harem area, Zhu Jingyuan felt a sense of relief.
The architectural layout of the central area of the new harem is very similar to the previous Forbidden City in the north and south.
Passing through the main gate, Qianqing Gate, you can directly see the Qianqing Palace, the main palace where the emperor lived.
The main body of Qianqing Palace is 36 meters tall, which is 16 meters higher than the original one.
Behind the Qianqing Palace is the Queen's Kunning Palace. There is also a Jiaotai Palace between Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace.
These two most high-end large palaces are still surrounded by a circle of small-sized houses like the previous palaces, forming an independent courtyard.
The surrounding small houses were where the people and supplies for the emperor and empress' lives were supplied.
Including food, medicine, servants, vehicles, warehouses, etc.
On the east and west sides of this small courtyard, just like the former Forbidden City, there are two sets of courtyards for concubines to live in.
Only small adjustments have been made in quantity and planning.
The original east and west courtyards had the same specifications, which were the so-called east and west palaces.
Now double the number, the six east and west palaces have become the twelve east and west palaces, for a total of twenty-four courtyards.
There are sixteen courtyards, and the houses and palaces inside are designed with clear priorities.
The center is a palace dedicated to the owner's residence, surrounded by other supporting facilities and servant rooms.
These courtyards were for the exclusive residence of imperial concubines, imperial concubines, imperial concubines, or other concubines who were especially favored by the emperor.
Everyone who lives here is the master of the first palace, and they have a villa-style palace to themselves.
The overall layout of the remaining eight courtyards is similar to that of a courtyard, with one building in each direction.
However, the space is much larger than that of a private courtyard house, and the decoration and facilities are exclusively for the royal family, making it the most luxurious among civilians.
Inside the four buildings, there are many independent suites with a similar layout, similar to private multi-story apartments.
This is a place for more low-level concubines to live together.
In this way, there are a total of twenty-four courtyards, surrounding the courtyards of the emperor and empress, forming a larger courtyard.
To the east of this large courtyard is the Renshou Palace of the Supreme Emperor. In front of the Renshou Palace is the Chunhe Palace where the young princes and princesses live.
On the west side of the large courtyard are the two palaces, Cining Palace and Ciqing Palace.
In this way, the entire area integrated is the core of the new harem's residential area.
The overall layout is highly similar to the previous Forbidden City Harem.
Even front and back, symmetrical left and right, very regular.
This actually does not meet Zhu Jingyuan’s original requirement of being as livable as possible.
Therefore, this area is just the core area, the official palace area that still retains official symbolic meaning.
The emperor, queen mother, emperor, queen, imperial concubine, concubine, and concubines with official status all have corresponding palaces.
There are also three garden-style palaces on the east, west and north sides of this entire formal area.
These three palaces were built with the goal of living comfortably.
The total area of each of these three palaces is equivalent to the standard harem area in the core area.
The total area is close to three square kilometers, which is 300 hectares, or 4,500 acres, of which the water area is nearly 2,000 acres.
This is the scale of the built-up area complete with landscape arrangement.
The entire Laoshan District, with a total area of hundreds of square kilometers, is nominally part of this palace area.
There used to be a simple fence around the forest farm, but now it has been changed into a concrete palace wall.
The two hydropower stations dedicated to the two royal palaces are also inside this mountain forest.
If subsequent emperors have ideas, they can continue to expand the palace in the mountains in the northwest or the plains in the northeast.
Zhu Jingyuan doesn't have many ideas at the moment, and he doesn't have time to take a closer look here.
After taking a car and running along the main road in the courtyard, we roughly enjoyed the scenery inside the new palace, and then returned to the old city of Yingtianfu.
When we returned to the old city, it was already dark.
Zhu Jingyuan went directly to finish the meal with his grandfather and father, and reported on his feelings about the visit:
"I think it's okay..."
Zhu Jianyan's beard trembled:
"By okay, you mean... not satisfactory?
“In recent years, the imperial court and the royal family have made massive investments to build this new capital and palace.
"It was all planned according to your ideas, but now it has received an unsatisfactory rating?
"You're not going to make any further renovations and expansions, are you?"
Zhu Jingyuan immediately shook his head and waved his hands:
"No, no, Father, you misunderstood.
“I say it’s okay, which means it’s not satisfactory. It’s acceptable, but it’s not particularly satisfactory.
“Actually, I want to say that I am very satisfied with the buildings themselves, whether it is the apartment buildings and office buildings for officials, or the new main hall and the new harem.
“This completely new city has realized most of my original vision.
“Generally speaking, I don’t feel very satisfied with it, but it lies in aspects other than the building itself and the design planning.
"It can be regarded as a reflection on the general trend of the world, on the people and the court, on the royal family and the subjects, and on the social relations.
"We long for a more reasonable and fair social order.
“Avoid unnecessary waste and use all production capacity for the development of the entire society.
“Instead of using it as a spectacle.
“But at the same time, I also know that it’s impossible to achieve.
“There is indeed a need for construction of new halls that are only used a few times a year.
“Even if I don’t build it, someone else will build it.
“Others are actually still building.
“So instead of letting others do it, I should do it myself and do it according to my ideas.
"It's just with such a complicated mood...
"I said 'okay'."
Zhu Jianyan listened to Zhu Jingyuan's words silently, smiled wryly and nodded lightly and said:
"You are right, many things in the world are not based on personal will.
“It’s the same even for the emperor.
“When the emperor realizes this, if he cannot mediate himself well, it may be very dangerous for the country.
“Master Wei Miao (Chongzhen) might have been in that state at the beginning.
“You can accept that you have to not do it, and that if you don’t do it, others will do it, at least you can bypass the psychological barrier.
"At least my mentality is better than that of Mr. Wei Miao. I have nothing to worry about anymore..."
After Zhu Jianyan finished speaking, he looked at the Supreme Emperor Zhu Zhongliang.
Zhu Zhongliang asked the father and son here with a somewhat surprised tone:
"You shouldn't have worried in the first place. This kid has been precocious since he was a child. The key to a good mentality is to be good at self-adjustment.
"Question, do you think surpassing Mr. Wei Miao is a high praise? Are you confused when you are only sixty years old?"
Zhu Jianyan seemed to realize that he was talking nonsense, but he forcefully explained without admitting it:
"Of course. Although Mr. Wei Miao has done a lot of stupid things, his mentality is actually pretty good among our ancestors.
“When Master Ximiao (Tianqi) was in power, the situation was much better than during the Chongzhen period.
"But it didn't take long for Ximiao Yuji to be unable to withstand it any longer, and it only lasted seven years before it died in confusion.
"Three sons and two daughters all died in infancy, raising a thing like Wei Zhongxian, and spent all the internal savings left by the temple master.
"On the contrary, Mr. Wei Miao was able to barely maintain the situation despite the even worse crisis of the Chongzhen Dynasty and the drought and floods that lasted for more than ten years.
"The most important thing is that he persisted until the 17th year of Chongzhen, and he did not die in confusion like Xi Temple.
"There are no eunuchs in the palace who are as outrageous as Wei Zhongxian, and there are no chief ministers in the outer court that he cannot kill.
"His old man also gave birth to a total of thirteen children, which is relatively large among ancestors in the past dynasties. Five of them were raised to the Renwu Dynasty.
"He lived to be sixty-six years old after abdicating the throne, and was second only to Taizu Emperor Gao among his ancestors before Chongzhen.
"His old man was indeed a bit impatient in his early years, but after experiencing the major events in the Chongzhen Dynasty and Renwu's early years, his mentality in his later years can indeed be considered very good."
Zhu Zhongliang shook his head with a very speechless face:
"You kid actually learned how to use strong words to reason..."
Zhu Jingyuan couldn't help but laugh, feeling that his father's mentality was also changing.
He looks more and more like his grandfather who just retired. He has become more relaxed and no longer has a serious air.
His old man should also be ready to retire.
(End of chapter)
