The palace construction plan finalized in the fourth year of Chengshun is a very large building complex construction plan. It is not only the reconstruction of the Nanjing Imperial Palace in the pre-Ming Dynasty, but also includes the imperial garden outside the palace. The scope of this imperial garden is extremely broad.
It also includes a large number of administrative buildings, that is, office buildings for various departments.
Nowadays, the office locations of many Gyeonggi institutions in the Great Chu Empire are very scattered, and this too dispersed office locations have led to a reduction in office efficiency.
In order to improve office efficiency and facilitate security work, while constructing the palace, a number of office buildings will be intensively built in the area around the palace to serve as office spaces for various ministries in Gyeonggi Province.
Once the construction of the entire palace and ancillary office buildings is completed, the entire Jinling City will be divided into three parts. The eastern area will become the palace, office areas for major institutions, and guards camps, in addition to a small number of living facilities. It is mainly a collective dormitory specially used for the residence of office workers from nearby yamen.
This area will extend from Tongjimen to the north, that is, along Taiping Street to Xuanwu Lake, and to the east and north and south directly to the Jinling City wall.
That is, it reaches Taipingmen in the north, Chaoyangmen in the east, Zhengyangmen in the south, and Taiping Street in the west.
This area was expanded from the imperial city during the Ming Dynasty. The area was greatly increased, and a new imperial city wall was built on Taiping Street. This wall was not used to resist foreign enemies, but purely for It is divided from the living area in the western area because the thickness is average, but relatively high.
The western area of Jinling's inner city, all the way to the Yangtze River coast, exists as a general living area and commercial area. It will be re-planned in the future to ensure that the roads are wide and straight, and a large number of old illegal buildings will be demolished.
Outside the inner city is the outer city. This area is very large. It is also a living area and a commercial area, as well as some industrial areas.
Luo Zhixue planned the entire Jinling City based on some of the views of later generations, and also combined some of the current actual conditions of Jinling City. The main starting point was to ensure the smooth operation of all major institutions in the entire Gyeonggi Province.
After all, the total number of officials and guards in the capital, plus their family records and servants, has exceeded 200,000, which is a quite huge number.
The entire Jinling City actually serves these officials and soldiers in the capital, as well as their family records.
As for other business and other things, that's all incidental... Well, although the business in Jinling City is very developed.
Because Jinling City was the political center of the Chu Empire, the rule of the entire empire, which actually controlled millions of people, as well as numerous military decisions, needed to be made and issued here.
In this way, the entire planning of Jinling City also considers how to improve office efficiency and provide convenient living conditions for these personnel.
In the entire planning of Jinling City, the planning of the eastern office area, including the imperial palace, is the top priority.
Many buildings in this area have been completed in the past few years. For example, most of the office buildings of various institutions have been completed. Many buildings in the palace, such as the main halls, have been completed. stage, and the real place where the royal family lives, that is, the harem, covers a larger area and extends to the north to expand a large area. The main building here has basically been completed, and ground construction is currently underway, that is, some Drainage channels, planting flowers and grass, cobblestone roads and so on.
Overall, the office buildings of the palace department and major government offices have almost been repaired. The reason why they were repaired so quickly was mainly because the Chu Empire had money and could plunder all kinds of building materials across the country and then use them. A large number of prisoners of war carried out construction.
The most important thing is that Luo Zhixue had a lot of ready-made building materials when he built the palace...
The construction of traditional halls, especially those in various royal palaces with strong political significance, is very difficult, or the requirements for building materials are particularly high, such as white marble and precious wood.
The load-bearing wooden pillars used in the main hall are very difficult to make. They have to be cut down from the deep mountains and old forests in the southwestern provinces and then transported out. Then it takes a long time to dry and process...
The reason why large buildings in ancient times were built slowly was that most of the time was actually spent on the transportation and processing of building materials.
Especially since the precious wood and stone materials have gone up, there is not much time left to actually repair the house.
In order to solve the problem of building materials, the Great Chu Empire started the demolition mode. The precious building materials in some vassal palaces in various places, and even the former Ming Forbidden City Palace in Youzhou City, were demolished in various ways...
Some curios or furnishings were packed and transported directly to Jinling City.
All kinds of precious wood, white marble and other building materials are also packed on ships. Although demolition is time-consuming and costly, it is still easier than going to remote areas for felling and processing.
Therefore, while the Jinling Palace continued to take shape, many former Ming vassal palaces were demolished to pieces, and the Forbidden City was no exception...
The Forbidden City was too special to be used as a government residence. As for serving as a vassal palace, Luo Zhixue didn't even have a son, and he had no plans to entrust his son to various parts of the Central Plains.
The only purpose of the Forbidden City in the future is to serve as a palace for Luo Zhixue when he goes north... But Luo Zhixue has nothing to do and will not go north. Even if he goes to the north for inspection or something, he will not go to Youzhou, but It will be in Tianjin, where the governor of Hebei is located.
In order to prevent the influence of the remnants of the previous Ming Dynasty, the Chu Empire did not set up any administrative or military center in Youzhou City. The Chu Empire directly established provincial-level institutions such as the Hebei Governor's Yamen and the Hebei Garrison Command in Tianjin.
Tianjin has developed extremely rapidly in recent years. The Chu Empire not only established Hebei's governor's office and Hebei garrison headquarters and other government agencies of Hebei Province here, but also planned and built an industrial base in Tianjin.
Relying on local natural and human resources, as well as relatively convenient canals and shipping conditions, Tianjin has now established four large-scale national defense supporting enterprises: Tianjin Steel Plant, Tianjin Machinery Plant, Tianjin Arsenal, and Tianjin Shipyard.
Around these four large factories, the Ministry of Industry has also invested in the establishment of more than ten supporting factories.
So far, the Ministry of Industry has initially built a relatively complete industrial base in Tianjin, and has also supported and encouraged private capital investment.
Today, although Tianjin's industrial scale is far from being comparable to large industrial bases such as Dangtu, Daye, and Songjiang, it is actually not weaker than Guangzhou.
After all, Tianjin's geographical location is very special. It is in the transportation center of northern China. There are canals and shipping that can connect the north and the south. To the west is Liaodong, and to the north is Monan Mongolia. Its geographical location naturally determines that it can absorb the surrounding population resources and There was an influx of industrial raw materials and even agricultural products.
In addition, the above-mentioned status can also provide sufficient markets for many factories in Tianjin!
Not to mention the private market, even if it is related to the national defense industry, the large number of armies deployed by the Da Chu Empire in the northern region, the large amount of weapons and equipment and even common military supplies such as uniforms they need to consume, have caused major defense-related companies in the Tianjin Industrial Zone to Sufficient orders were obtained.
Behind these defense factories, there are many related companies.
The large number of military orders from the imperial military directly drove the development of the entire northern industrial system. Well, it can also be directly said to be the development of Tianjin's industrial system.
Under such circumstances, Tianjin has replaced Youzhou as the political and economic center of the empire in the northern region.
In the future, the significance of Youzhou City in the Great Chu Empire will be that it can still be used as a military fortress city in the following years. After all, the walls of Youzhou City are still quite tall and thick... However, this has led to the rise of foreign tribes in the north, which frequently threaten the Hebei region. can be realized only under certain conditions.
As the threat from Mongolia in Monan gradually disappears, the military function of Youzhou City will rapidly decline, and eventually, it will gradually evolve into an ordinary city.
Under such circumstances, Luo Zhixue would not be able to go to Youzhou even if he went north for inspection in the future, let alone stay in the Forbidden City.
Even if Luo Zhixue goes to inspect Youzhou, it is impossible for Luo Zhixue to let the empire spend huge sums of money to maintain this huge palace just for the purpose of inspecting and living for a very limited time!
The daily maintenance cost of this traditional palace with brick and wood structure is very high. Why did the Ming Dynasty allow the Nanjing Imperial Palace to gradually decay and eventually become a ruin... It was not because the maintenance cost was too high.
For the empire, it is impossible to maintain a useless palace of the former dynasty, even if it is turned into a museum with a fee to visit, it is too nonsense to talk about tourism these days!
So after deliberation: demolish it!
Demolishing it can save a lot of maintenance costs, and also free up a large amount of precious building materials to be transported to Jinling City and then used in the construction of the new palace.
As for architectural cultural relics, historical significance, etc., architectural cultural relics are not needed, and historical significance cannot exist... If possible, the top officials of the empire would like to demolish the entire Youzhou City, so that the traces of the former Ming Dynasty can be completely disappeared. In the dust of history!
The transition between old and new is always so cruel.
Among the remains of the Forbidden City and many other former Ming dynasty palaces, the Jinling Palace took shape rapidly in just a few years.
Now that many of the main structures have been basically completed, all that remains is some finishing work and the peripheral imperial gardens outside the palace.
This imperial garden is said to be an imperial garden, but in fact it is a huge permanent fortification surrounding the palace, with a dense trench system and a fortress system. It is also quite troublesome to build these fortifications.
After all, this is not an ordinary field fortification. It is not just a matter of digging a trench, making a bombproof hole, or making a circular sandbag. These field fortifications will not look the same in a few years...
As a permanent fortification, it is not only necessary to ensure defense capabilities, but also to ensure that it remains intact years or even decades later.
For example, with so many trenches, the drainage facilities in them are not very troublesome, but more troublesome than the drainage in the palace.
Especially in the northern area, close to Xuanwu Lake, many places are even filled with Xuanwu Lake. The drainage is not good and prone to waterlogging, and there are a large number of trenches in the fortifications... In order to prevent these trenches from being buried underground. When it rains, it turns into a ditch, so complete defense facilities are needed.
In the end, the only reliable solution for flood control facilities in these places was to raise them...
It is unreliable to dig down, the only way is to raise the ground!
Just like the palace!
The imperial palace of the Dachu Empire did not directly build a house in the ruins of the original site, but first raised it...
During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, it was raised partially, but it was not enough... During the Dachu Empire, it was raised even higher.
Therefore, the terrain of the entire imperial palace of the Chu Empire was higher than that of the surrounding areas.
The fortifications of the Royal Garden are also raised. Of course, it is not possible to raise the entire terrain, but to raise the main defense nodes... otherwise the amount of work will be too large.
According to estimates, if the funds are successfully received, by next year, the Jinling Palace and the surrounding imperial gardens/fortifications, as well as other office buildings of various yamen and the west city wall will be completed one after another.
If everything goes well, next fall, Luo Zhixue will be able to move into the new palace with his concubines, children, and major institutions. At the same time, major institutions will also move into the office buildings of various institutions near the palace.
The political center of the entire empire will be fully moved into the Dongcheng District of Jinling City.
Of course, the premise is that construction funds can be guaranteed, and there is no need to worry too much about this. The financial resources of the Da Chu Empire are still very rich.
Furthermore, according to the current financial theory of the Dachu Empire, the taxes collected and various administrative revenues confiscated must be spent.
In terms of how to spend money, the Chu Empire may be different from traditional dynasties. They rarely send out funds directly, but tend to stimulate employment and create consumer demand.
The most common example is "relief for work". The essence of this model of "relief for work" is to stimulate employment, increase people's income, and enable people to have basic consumption capabilities.
In fact, other large-scale infrastructure projects follow almost the same routine. For example, most of the numerous flood control and drought relief water conservancy facilities are built by recruiting young people from rural areas during the slack time.
The construction of these infrastructures can be regarded as a form of work-for-relief to a certain extent. The government spends a lot of money, which can directly create a large number of jobs and increase people's income.
For example, building a section of flood control system requires a large number of workers directly on the construction site, and these are only the most superficial jobs.
In fact, building flood control structures requires a lot of tools. Well, hoes, shovels, baskets, wheelbarrows, carriages, etc. are also construction tools... Since they are tools, they need to be produced, so they can be used by some nearby small and medium-sized machinery factories and even A large number of private workshops brought orders.
In addition, stone is needed to build flood control structures, which can promote the development of local or nearby quarries. In order to meet the large number of stone orders, local quarries will hire more workers to quarry and process stone.
There are many similar ones. The construction of a section of flood control boom can directly and indirectly create a large number of jobs. The role it can play is far greater than distributing the funds for the construction of flood control boom directly to the local people.
This is also the reason why many countries in modern times like to work hard to build infrastructure when the economy is not doing well. In the 1930s, this was the case with Britain, France, and the United States, and the United States was even more typical. They even sometimes built these infrastructures. They do not focus on infrastructure construction itself, but on promoting employment.
Of course, it is easy to get yourself into a ditch by playing with this trick. Germany just had too much fun with this trick, and then whipped itself with a whip, forcing itself to go to the battlefield.
Therefore, no matter what policy you adopt, it cannot be too extreme, otherwise it will easily backfire.
As far as the Chu Empire is concerned, it is too early to talk about counterproductive effects. With the financial resources and overall economic structure of the Chu Empire, it is not possible to talk about such a high-level topic as the economic crisis.
Furthermore, when the foundation is too weak, the benefits of proper infrastructure construction outweigh the disadvantages, especially since the Chu Empire was engaged in a large number of water conservancy facility projects.
These water conservancy facilities can promote agricultural development and increase food production.
On the other hand, the construction of Dongcheng District in Jinling City is purely for the purpose of creating employment, because it is just a bunch of dilapidated houses and cannot promote production.
Because the scale of construction in Dongcheng District is relatively large, the employment generated is also very large.
For example, the large number of carvings in the palace require a large number of craftsmen. If it is a traditional dynasty, then a large number of craftsmen will be directly recruited for corvee service.
But this would not be done in the Dachu Empire. The Industrial Department of the Dachu Empire directly set up a stone carving factory and a wood carving factory, and then hired people to work everywhere, adopting a temporary employment system.
Even piece-rate wages were adopted, which greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of these stone carving or wood carving workers, and their work efficiency put other dynasties who were engaged in corvee work to shame.
More importantly, product cost expenditures under the piece-rate wage system have not increased but have decreased.
This is a very interesting phenomenon!
Piece wages, more work, more rewards. If there is another elimination from the bottom, KPI assessment... tsk tsk, a proper blessing!
Fortunately, the managers of many factories in the Da Chu Empire, that is, the officials of the Ministry of Industry, and even the factory owners run by the gentry among the people, have not yet carried out any elimination of the last place, KPI assessment... It's not that they don't want to do it. , but they haven’t thought of this yet...
Moreover, under the current so-called piece rate wage, temporarily hired masons and carpenters do not even receive a basic salary...
You don't work and you still want to get paid? What a beautiful thought!
Of course, putting aside these complaints and going back to the initial employment, there is no doubt that the construction of Dongcheng District has created a large number of jobs and provided a certain amount of extra income to related industries and surrounding people.
It's just that the pulling effect is still not very obvious, and those buildings will not produce much value in the future.
Therefore, Luo Zhixue's investment in the construction of Dongcheng District has always been modest, but when it comes to investing in various water conservancy facilities, he is often generous and will approve the funds if he can only find a decent reason.
Among them, the largest investment is undoubtedly the Huaihe-Yellow River Management Project with the Hongze Lake Embankment as the core. This is an infrastructure that will last forever.
But this alone is not enough. After conducting inspections along the Huaihe River and the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, people from the Ministry of Water Resources finally concluded that it is difficult to completely solve the flooding problem in the Jiangbei area with various flood control facilities alone.
For this reason, someone from the Ministry of Water Resources suggested that through advance planning and preparation, it is possible to artificially divert the Yellow River to the north after preparations are completed?
They also submitted a feasibility report. After reading it, Luo Zhixue felt that this matter was really feasible, and the sooner the better, the better.
Why, because there are fewer people in the north now, and there was war before, and the people's acceptance is better... It is not difficult to move the population around the potential river as a whole.
If more than ten or twenty years pass, the population around the potential river channel will definitely increase significantly. After maintaining a stable life for many years, it will be very difficult to get them to leave their hometown and relocate to the resettlement area.
As for some feudal dynasties, they did not relocate the surrounding people or prepare new river courses, but directly changed the course, turning a large area into a vast swamp in one go, and countless people were drowned... Luo Zhixue cannot do this kind of thing, all of this It's not a question of whether Luo Zhi learns well or not, but if he actually does it, he will definitely be infamy for eternity.
As the founding emperor of the Great Chu Empire, Luo Zhixue waited for the unification of most of China, but now he went into captivity and recovered a large number of Mongolian tribes in southern Mongolia. His pursuits were no longer the same as those of traditional emperors.
Power... As the founding emperor, and thanks to the current political structure of the Chu Empire, Luo Zhixue's power is definitely at the pinnacle of all emperors in the past.
In the Chu Empire, whether it was the imperial study room system, the Military Academy system, or the Hanlin Academy system, plus the tax department was directly responsible for taxation, the land could only share part of the tax revenue.
The military's local garrison headquarters, field armies, corps parallel systems, etc.
All institutions and systems have only one core purpose, and that is to centralize imperial power!
This means that in terms of power, Luo Zhixue has nothing to ask for... As for money, interests and even female sex, you have to know that the entire empire belongs to him.
Money, power and sex are all nothing to Luo Zhixue now... So what else can Luo Zhixue pursue now?
Fame, becoming the greatest emperor in Chinese history, famous throughout the ages and so on.
Next, Luo Zhixue learns some of his own hobbies, such as unifying the world...
Basically there are only these two things left.
Luo Zhixue supports continuing the campaign to the north and seizing the entire Northeast and even the grasslands further north, as well as the subsequent Western Regions and other areas, which will satisfy the above two requirements at the same time!
And doing some messy things to ruin his reputation is unacceptable to Luo Zhixue.
Therefore, when artificially changing the course of the Yellow River, we must not blow up the river banks and let the Yellow River flow north, causing countless people along the way to suffer!
On the other hand, if we can do it well, properly resettle the people along the way, tame the Yellow River through artificial diversion, then carry out greening projects such as planting trees in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River to fix sand, prevent desertification in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, and continue to build various flood control facilities , ensuring the safety of the Yellow River in the coming decades or even hundreds of years.
Luo Zhixue estimated that if this was accomplished, it would not be impossible to rival Dayu in flood control.
Coupled with other military and economic achievements, surpassing the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors before his death is no longer a dream!
Well, just do it!
Luo Zhixue, who had an idea in mind, immediately convened a meeting with officials from the Ministry of Water Resources to listen to the report on the artificial diversion project of the Yellow River!
