Gao Pragmatic's self-title seemed to be a bit difficult to give birth to. There was a heated discussion in Beijing for several days, but there was no response from Zhao Hui Jinggongfang. This made the melon-eaters a little disappointed, and they didn't know what Gao Situ was planning.
However, two days later, another news suddenly came from Shangshu Gaofu: the mansion was expanded.
It is said that Duke Cheng Guo sold two mansions north of his Shangshu Gaofu to Gao Situ. Gao Situ put them all together and simply surrounded the two mansions with Gaofu and rebuilt them.
Along with this news, another thing was spread: Gao Situ planned to build a new building that combined Chinese and Western styles in this new mansion. For this reason, he even went to the palace to meet the emperor to explain the building's architecture to the emperor. The style is very different from the national and dynasty standards, so please ask the emperor for permission to accommodate.
No one knows what Gao Situ told the emperor, but the emperor did quickly issue an imperial edict, authorizing Gao Pingshi's mansion to "test new construction methods." Buildings there are "except for dragon shapes, resting mountains, and numbers of animals, etc. are still prohibited." In addition, it is "not bound by established laws" to show "my intention to be tolerant and innovative."
However, perhaps in order to avoid chaos among the people, the emperor finally added: "The law is limited to this house. Officials, officials and people still follow the established system, and no unauthorized changes are allowed."
Do you need special approval from the emperor to build a house? That's right, it's really impossible to build a house like Gao Pragmatic without the emperor's approval. Before the Revolution of 1911, China had always had a very strict hierarchical system. If you exceeded the rules, whether accidentally or deliberately, you would be punished by the court, which could range from a cane to a fine, or to your head.
You must know that in ancient times, not only were there hierarchies between people, but even buildings were built according to the identity and status of their owners. Later generations referred to this system as the "ancient Chinese architectural hierarchy". This thing first appeared in the Zhou Dynasty and lasted until the end of the Qing Dynasty. The Revolution of 1911 can probably be regarded as the end date. It existed for more than two thousand years and was one of the most important systems in ancient times.
The architectural style of the Ming Dynasty inherited the French architectural tradition of the Song Dynasty without significant changes, but the architectural design and planning were mainly characterized by grand scale and majesty. The architectural style of the early Ming Dynasty was similar to that of the Song Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, simple and majestic. The architectural style of the middle period tended to be rigorous. However, after the end of Jiajing, the architectural style tended to be cumbersome - of course, it can also be said to be more and more refined.
Ming-style architecture has always had strict regulations on the housing hierarchy. For example, the homes of first- and second-rank officials have five halls and nine shelves, down to the halls of ninth-rank officials with three rooms and seven shelves; while the houses of common people have no more than three rooms and five shelves, and Dougong and colorful paintings are prohibited.
In the twenty-sixth year of Hongwu's reign, some specific customizations were added: for example, the official halls of the sixth to ninth grades had three rooms and seven racks, and the main entrance hall had three rooms and three racks; the common people's main hall should not exceed three rooms and five racks. In the 30th year of Hongwu, it was reiterated: the number of houses can be one or twenty, but the number of spaces and racks cannot be increased. In the twelfth year of Orthodoxy, a slight modification was finally made, indicating that the number of racks could be increased, but the number of intervals could not be changed.
Therefore, the residential hierarchy system in the Ming Dynasty mainly limited the number of rooms and racks. As for the number of building floors, it could be adapted to local conditions. From Jialong to the fifteenth year of Wanli, the residences of the Ming Dynasty can well express the characteristics of the so-called Ming Dynasty architecture in later generations, that is, elegance and stability, exquisite workmanship, exquisite decoration, delicate and elegant carvings and paintings.
In fact, "architecture" can be divided into four major categories of buildings at this time, namely capital buildings, palace buildings, residential buildings, and religious buildings. Gao pragmatically rebuilt the mansion this time, which is of course a residential building.
In ancient times, a house was not only a place of residence, but also a symbol of the owner's identity. During the Tang and Song Dynasties, the imperial court had certain restrictions on the housing styles of officials and common people, but they were still relatively loose. For example, in the Song Dynasty, officials with a rank of six or lower were not allowed to build Wutou doors in front of their houses, and common people's houses were only allowed to be five doors deep. Only one room is allowed in the house, and no cornices, heavy arches, pavilions, caissons, or colorful decorations are allowed.
It can be seen that the emphasis at this time is on the status difference between zoning officials and common people. In the early Ming Dynasty, the classification of residences became even stricter. For example, officials were not allowed to use gables, double eaves roofs, heavy arches, or caissons when building residences. According to Zhu Yijun's imperial edict, the new high-pragmatic mansions did not have heavy eaves. There are restrictions on eaves, double arches and caissons, but the top of Xieshan Mountain cannot be used (note: in the Ming Dynasty, only the royal family and a certain level of clan could use the top of Xieshan Mountain).
These restrictions were originally targeted at common people in the Song Dynasty, but now they are targeted at high-ranking officials. This means that except for members of the royal family, no matter how high your official position is, your residence cannot be built on the top of a hill, but can only be built on a "two buildings" (hanging mountain, hard building). Mountain).
In addition, the residences of princes and officials were divided into four levels, and strict restrictions were imposed on the number, depth, and paint colors of gates and halls. As for the common people's houses, they are not allowed to exceed three rooms, and brackets and colorful colors are not allowed.
But then again, although there were many thieves in the rules of the Ming Dynasty, by the Longwan period, the phenomenon of exceeding the rules was very common. Of course, generally speaking, this kind of over-making is still a bit "fine". At least no one among the people has gone so far as to carve a five-clawed dragon shape on the beams and columns of his house. Generally speaking, over-making is mainly about exceeding the number of rooms.
This is actually understandable. For example, in a wealthy family, it happens that no one in the family has been an official in recent generations, but his family is very rich. At this time, if you ask his family to only have three rooms, this is indeed a bit confusing. Isn't that too much?
The reason why Gao Pragmatic's new residence was approved by the emperor was, of course, because he was a special person in the emperor's mind, and also because the architectural design he submitted was indeed very novel, and it was difficult to apply the old regulations. To measure, and among them his main house is the most important.
From the emperor's point of view, Gao Pragmatic seemed to particularly like buildings. Not only did he have the now-famous White Jade Building, the main house of this new residence was actually another building.
However, the emperor immediately believed Gao Pingshi's statement that he wanted to experiment with new construction methods after seeing the design drawings, because his main building was actually seven stories high.
There are seven-story buildings, but the pagoda in Ming Dynasty is usually called a tower instead of a building. "Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda" is such a tower. However, this kind of pagoda is not for people to live in. They are just to show their merits. Some of them enshrine relics, Buddha bones and other holy objects on them.
The building Gao pragmatically wants to build is actually used to live in people, so the building area is much larger than that of the pagoda. But this is not the main problem. It is a building with a large enough base and a height of seven floors. Then it The final height may exceed the symbol of imperial power - Huangji Palace.
This is the most fatal one. When Gao Jingshi presented the design drawings, he also took the initiative to express it to the emperor, saying that according to estimates, if the seven-story building was reduced to five stories, it would definitely be lower than the Huangji Palace. He was willing to let Westerners build it. The designer modifies the design plan.
However, Zhu Yijun thought for a while and shook his head saying no. Zhu Yijun's reason is that since you want to experiment with new building methods, you have to experiment well. Why only build five floors when you can build seven floors? Since you are going to do something, you have to do it to perfection. Don’t just do it half way. I will be upset when the time comes.
But Gao Pragmatic was in a dilemma. After all, the design drawings were just made by Westerners to show off their architectural skills. However, the Ming Dynasty has its own national conditions here, and we do not necessarily have to follow their intentions.
Who would have thought that Zhu Yijun laughed and actually made a suggestion that stunned Gao Pragmatic: You build your building first, and after you have fully mastered the new construction method or even improved it to a higher level, you will be responsible for helping me renovate the Huangji Palace. After repairing it, we can also make it taller when the time comes. Wouldn’t this be the best of both worlds?
The idea can't be said to be bad, it's even quite trendy, and it seems to keep pace with the times. However, Gao Pragmatic heard something not so good here - according to the emperor's intention, the money for the new construction of Huangji Palace seems to be You want me to pay?
He asked in a roundabout way, and Zhu Yijun glared at him confidently and said, "That's natural. Is it difficult for you to help me build a new Huangji Palace for such a special case?"
Gao pragmatic was stunned for a long time, and almost pointed at Zhu Yijun's nose and scolded him for blackmail. This damn palace is Xiuhuang Ji Palace. In the past, parts of the three main halls were damaged by lightning strikes (this happened often in the Ming Dynasty). Just repairing it would cost two to three hundred thousand taels, so it often took years. Now you... Meow, you actually have the nerve to ask me to build a new one for you?
But it was impossible to really scold, so Gao Pragmatic had no choice but to try his best to reduce his losses. First of all, he proposed one thing: Since it is going to be built according to the new law, when the time comes, the minister will say that stone should be used, cement should be used, and cement should be used. If you add steel bars, you have to add steel bars. In short, in order to "ensure the quality of the project," I don't plan to use many giant trees.
Zhu Yijun was obviously not very clear about the cost difference. He was very satisfied and said that you have the final say, as long as you don't give me a chance to do something bad here or there every three days.
Gao Pragmatic dared to vouch for this, and even said that building the Huangji Palace according to his new method would avoid damage by lightning strikes. Only then did Zhu Yijun become truly happy, even extremely happy, and immediately expressed his full agreement.
There was no way. The three major palaces in the Ming Dynasty were really in trouble. They were struck by lightning at every turn. Everyone from the emperor to the officials were afraid - hundreds of thousands of taels of silver were spent on each repair, and the court was so poor that only Can you not be afraid of losing your pants? But there is nothing we can do about it. As the tallest wooden building in the capital, how can it avoid being struck by lightning?
Therefore, when Gao Pragmatic said this, Zhu Yijun immediately agreed, and by the way, he wrote this "sovereign-minister agreement" into the imperial edict in a roundabout way to avoid the foreign court's gibbering.
In short, after they processed this matter, it turned out that in order to test the new construction method of "three-hall style tall buildings to protect themselves from lightning strikes", Gao Pragmatic tried his own way to build a building first for the emperor to go up the sword mountain and down the sea of fire, wading out of a Blood comes...
After the imperial edict was issued and the special approval was obtained, Gao Pragmatic finally announced the name of the building and announced his "self-title".
The building is called Rixin Building, and Gao pragmatically calls it "The Master of Rixin Building".
"Rixin", of course, does not mean to introduce a new person. This word comes from "Da Xue": "Gou Rixin, daily new, and daily new", the earliest one is Yuanchu Tang's "Pan Ming".
This sentence was originally a motto engraved on the bathtub of the ancient Ming Dynasty King Shang Tang. The general meaning is "If it can be renewed every day, it should be kept fresh every day, and when it is new, it must be renewed." Later, this sentence was connected with "Although Zhou was an old state, its destiny was restored", so the meaning became more profound, and it contained the idea of advancing with the times.
"Although the Zhou Dynasty was an old state, its destiny was restored" was recently noticed in the imperial court because of Gao Pragmatic's "Qi Yong Shu", that is, "Taxers take what is from the people and use it to the people."
Nowadays, Gao pragmatism has chosen his own title as "Rixin Postmaster", and his intention is naturally obvious to all: the most important thing in my life, Gao pragmatism, is to innovate!
As soon as the news came out, I don't know how many people were nervous, how many people sighed, and how many people breathed a sigh of relief.
In short, the construction of the Rixin Building started at an extremely fast speed. Jinghua Infrastructure demonstrated their true nature as the leading construction maniacs in the Ming Dynasty. They dispatched nearly a thousand construction teams in a single day, and the convoys transporting materials almost covered the building several feet wide. The imperial street was blocked.
However, this made it inconvenient for Gao Pragmatic to live, so he had to live back in Baiyu Tower on the outskirts of Beijing. Zhu Yingzhen, Zhang Yuangong and others all came to say that they still had extra guest rooms for Gao Jingshi to stay temporarily, so as to avoid him rushing back to the city from the suburbs of Beijing for duty early in the morning, but Gao Jingshi politely refused.
The reason why Gao pragmatic would rather run more than ten miles in the morning to return to Baiyulou was not because of anything else, but because he wanted to contact Ye He's mission to establish a relationship.
Oh, instead of looking for Meng Guzhe and Rixin, that matter will have to wait for a while. What he is looking for now is Fei Yingdong.
Since Fei Yingdong can become the head of Nurhaci's five ministers and is famous for being good at fighting, there is obviously no need to doubt this person's strength. Gao Wuzhi currently has no shortage of capable generals at hand, but he knows that Ye He is in short supply. Now that he wants to support Ye He to prevent Nurhachi from rising while the Ming Dynasty concentrates its energy on Chahar, it is very important to give Ye He a reliable and famous general. It's necessary.
Gao has always been very good at winning over people. Needless to say, in short, after a few days, Fei Yingdong almost wanted to rip his heart out for Gao Pragmatic.
Let's talk about Meng Guzhezhe again. It's not that he is pragmatic and not close to women, and he doesn't want to be new. It's just that the previous problem of "buying concubines" has not been solved. He also mentioned this matter when he went to see the emperor, but Zhu Yijun refused to take up the matter, saying that he was just being a middleman to change the nature of Meng Guzhezhe's matter, and he would not discuss the specific issue of buying concubines tomorrow. Zi is not willing to interfere.
Gao Jingshi was a little confused at the time, but when he left the palace and returned home, he suddenly realized that the reason why Zhu Yijun refused to involve him was probably not a matter of face, but that it was difficult to explain to Princess Yongning.
It's not enough for you, the elder brother, to give my lover a concubine, but you actually collected the money to buy a concubine?
This was the actual reason for Zhu Yijun's refusal, so Gao Pragmatic had no choice but to leave the emperor alone and sent someone to quickly contact Ye He. Therefore, the matter of Rixin has to wait until Nalinbulu accepts his money to buy a concubine and sends the marriage certificate. Only then can Gao Pragmatic hold a ceremony and officially take over Meng Guzhezhe's house.
"New every day, new every day, new again every day" seems not that simple.
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