The fifth day of the second lunar month in the thirty-sixth year of Chengshun was the day of the second lunar month.
Luo Zhixue got up early in the morning and first briefly handled some of the accumulated affairs. Then, under the service of a group of palace maids, he put on complicated dragon robes and a Yishan crown, and sat down under the protection of the imperial guards from the palace guard's office. A royal carriage weighing four tons.
Unlike traditional dynasties, the upper class in the Chu Empire did not like to ride bridges, but preferred to ride horse-drawn carriages... This was not only true for the upper class officials, but also for ordinary officials at the grassroots level and even for the general upper class.
In fact, in the early years, the dignitaries of the Chu Empire still mainly rode sedan chairs. Luo Zhixue himself had thirty-six dragon sedan chairs.
However, with the development of the times, especially the rapid development of domestic animal husbandry, especially the empire successively captured and controlled Monan, Mobei and Moxi, as well as traditional animal husbandry areas such as Liaohetao in the northeast, which allowed the empire to gain enough horses.
In order to raise horses, the Da Chu Empire even freed up the entire Jeju Island on the Korean Peninsula to be used as a military horse stable. The Liaoxi horses produced in Jeju Island were of extremely high quality and were the main source of riding war horses for the army.
At the same time, large-scale land reclamation was carried out in the country, and various pastures were planted on a large scale in the Dingmu area. These all contributed to the explosive growth of horses in the Great Chu Empire.
As there are more and more horses, their application fields will naturally expand from traditional military and cargo transportation to ordinary transportation and agricultural fields.
The Chu Empire launched large-scale horse farming in the northern region, especially in the northeastern region. It was during this period that horse farming gradually developed and became popular.
At the same time, the southern region, which had traditionally lacked horses, also began to have a large influx of horses. At the same time, the new southwest horses bred and bred in the southern region were also widely used in the southwest region.
The rapid increase in the number of horses eventually led to the rapid development of the number of carriages, especially in urban areas.
This became even more obvious after the emergence of trains and ships, because the use of trains and ships made it more convenient and cheaper to transport horses from the north to the south.
The number of horses in Songjiang City has expanded rapidly in the past ten years... The growth rate of horse carriages is, to some extent, equivalent to the development rate of trains and ships.
Before the large-scale application of high-pressure steam engines, there were not so many horses in Songjiang City... Of course, there was not that many people at that time. Although the economy was very good, the number of factories and workers were not as large as now, and the overall situation was not as big. Traffic pressure does not require so many horses.
The number of horses is increasing, and the use of carriages is becoming more and more widespread... Well, by the way, more and more official roads are being built, and the more they are built, the better they are. At the same time, urban roads are gradually becoming more popular. Cinder roads, gravel roads, and asphalt are gradually appearing in big cities. roads, cement roads, etc.
These ultimately led to a seemingly unrelated industry gradually withdrawing from the stage of history.
This is the sedan industry!
When the dignitaries traveled, they began to choose new four-wheeled carriages that were more comfortable, faster, and more dignified, instead of sitting in small sedans as before...
At the same time, this also has something to do with the guidance of the upper echelons of the empire... For example, Luo Zhixue himself rarely rode in a sedan chair in the past. For daily travel, even on ceremonial occasions, Luo Zhixue tended to ride directly on horseback in his early years to reflect his status as the emperor on horseback. Later, I started riding horse-drawn carriages...
As for the sedan, in the earliest few years, he had ridden in the ceremonial thirty-six sedans several times. In daily life, he basically did not ride in the sedan, but basically rode a carriage...
What goes up is good, and what goes down is invested.
Luo Zhixue himself rarely rides in a sedan chair. Who among the officials in this empire dares to say that he is more noble and enjoys it more than Luo Zhixue?
Therefore, in the early days, the imperial bureaucracy gradually turned to horse-drawn carriages. In the early years, there were not many horses, and many officials in poor areas still used donkey-carts when going out.
But then the number of horses increased... About fifteen years after Chengshun, officials all traveled by carriage. In addition, quite a few officers and generals and a few civilian officials also chose to travel directly on horseback.
And these bureaucratic groups were also the real ruling class of the Chu Empire, the upper-class dignitaries... When they chose to ride horse-drawn carriages, it meant that the upper class of the entire society also chose horse-drawn carriages... and later, gradually spread to the middle class. ...As for the common people at the bottom, they don’t even ride in sedan chairs!
By about the 30th year of Chengshun, in the society of the Chu Empire, except for some special occasions, it was actually rare to see people from the middle and upper classes traveling in sedan chairs.
However, in some traditional occasions, sedan chairs are still the mainstream. For example, when getting married, women still ride in eight-carry sedan chairs!
But again, these are special occasions, and in daily life, except for a few cases, they are generally invisible.
This is the result of economic development, a substantial increase in the number of horses, better road conditions, and technological development leading to better horse-drawn carriages.
It is not the result of official ban or special guidance.
Or to put it more simply, this is an inevitable situation of social progress after the industrial revolution.
Against such a backdrop, as the emperor, Luo Zhixue naturally rode a specially made royal carriage when traveling.
The carriage was built by Yingtian Carriage Company, a subsidiary of the Royal Assets Department. The frame was made of the most advanced steel at the time, and underwent extremely complex and expensive anti-rust treatment, and the outer layer underwent complex chemical gold plating!
The main material of the body is top-grade precious wood, which has also undergone a series of advanced anti-corrosion treatments.
The car windows use large natural transparent crystal windows specially polished and produced by Zhenjiang Optical Instruments!
There are a large number of various gemstones as embellishments throughout the car body.
The carpets in the car are made from the furs of large polar bears that the Navy specially sent warships to hunt in the Arctic.
In addition to luxury, this carriage actually embodies the technology of the Chu Empire!
Not to mention anything else, just the lightweight, high-strength, and very tough steel on the frame alone makes this thing instantly surpass all other countries in the contemporary world!
As for the various anti-rust treatments and chemical gold plating at the back, they are all incidental small processes.
There are only a few steel materials on this frame. Not to mention the seventeenth century, even in the first half of the twentieth century in the original time and space, few countries could produce it.
This is the top expression of the metallurgical craftsmanship of the Da Chu Empire.
There is also a natural crystal car window...it looks like an ordinary crystal glass, but in fact this thing is a serious piece of ultra-precision optical glass. It is not a whole plane, but actually has a sag. And ultra-high processing accuracy.
This crystal car window reflects the highest level of optical equipment manufacturing in the Dachu Empire.
There are also various parts and components, many of which look ordinary, but are actually manifestations of the top industrial level of the Chu Empire, such as some small parts in the carriage... These are not made of steel or wood, but contemporary Very rare aluminum!
It's not easy to produce aluminum these days. You can only use chemical methods to prepare it in the laboratory. Aluminum these days is more precious and expensive than gold. The empire's annual output is only a few dozen kilograms.
The wheels are made of rubber tires. This solid rubber tire is a rubber tire specially developed by Nanyang Rubber Company. It was a sensation at the time. The first batch of products was used on this royal carriage... Now this kind of rubber tire It has gradually spread to mid- to high-end carriages.
Almost every detail on this royal carriage actually reflects the top industrial strength of the Chu Empire.
As for some gold plating and various gem decorations on the surface... Many places in the car body are gold plated, not even to reflect luxury or beauty, but more for rust prevention... Gold plating is a very good anti-rust means.
To be honest, gems and the like are all trivial trinkets worth mentioning!
After so many years of overseas expansion, the Da Chu Empire brought back countless miscellaneous gems from overseas. Some of these gems were large and of good quality, and in the end almost all of them ended up in the hands of the royal family.
For example, a very large ruby mined in Myanmar weighed more than 40 grams (1 carat = 0.2 grams). As soon as this ruby was mined, it was sent directly to the Imperial Palace of Jinling City and then processed into an egg round. pattern of giant rubies.
where are you now?
On the armrest of the dragon chair in the imperial study room where Luo Zhixue often sat, on the other side was an equally rare emerald.
Therefore, rubies, emeralds and even diamonds were abundant in the royal family of the Da Chu Empire, and they did not cost much...because these gems were not expensive these days.
What is more expensive is all kinds of rare and famous jade...
For example, the price of traditional Hetian jade with good quality can go up to the sky.
But various gemstones, diamonds, etc. are relatively much cheaper, otherwise the royal family would not have collected so many high-quality gemstones.
As for jade... this thing is even less reliable than diamonds in the current Da Chu Empire... It was purely operated by the Royal Jewelry Company itself... Why? Because the Royal Jewelry Company controls almost all known jade mines, it is the only one selling this stuff...
Mine it yourself, process it yourself, appraise it yourself and give it a certificate, then hype it up and sell it yourself...
Not to mention, they have been very successful. They have sold a lot of jadeite, and the price has gone up, but it has little collection value, and second-hand goods are not valuable either...
Why? Because the Royal Jewelry Company will not recycle jadeite for you... Once the item is sold, it will not be returned.
Moreover, the upper class generally doesn’t like this thing.
In the upper class, traditional famous jade is still preferred...even some stones are better than jade, such as lake stone, which is highly praised by countless literati!
This thing is valuable!
And extremely scarce!
But, just like the Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs of later generations, all fools know that the number of authentic Yangcheng Lake hairy crabs is extremely limited, but they are everywhere on the market...
Today's lake rocks are similar...they are all broken rocks, who knows where they come from.
Be it various gemstones, jade, or even lake stones, all these luxury accessories are actually owned by the royal family, and most of them are... for no other reason than that the Royal Jewelry Company is the largest manufacturer of various gemstones in the Chu Empire. Mining, processing and sales enterprises.
All kinds of good things were discovered by the Royal Jewelry Company, and then they changed hands and were sent to the palace.
And this is also the main or even the only core business of the Royal Jewelry Company, which is to collect various gemstones and make jewelry for the royal family.
As for mining and selling jewelry, that’s just to make money...
This is why the royal carriage that Luo Zhixue was riding contained a large number of various rare gems... Mainly because there were too many gems in the royal warehouse. If they were not used, they would just be thrown into the warehouse to eat dust. Why not take it out and decorate the carriage?
This is also the difference between the royal family and ordinary people, and even those in the powerful class.
Some things that are very precious in the eyes of ordinary people, or even the powerful, are actually just ordinary small items in the eyes of the royal family... especially luxury accessories.
Not only gems, but also other calligraphy, paintings, antiques and the like.
In the imperial palace of the Da Chu Empire, there are countless famous calligraphy and paintings... piles and piles of authentic calligraphy of various celebrities that are rare to see outside. In the royal family's collection of paintings and calligraphy, there are dozens and dozens of them... Luo Zhixue When several of my children learned calligraphy in the past, they copied the original works of famous artists directly, and even damaged a lot of them.
In the end, Luo Zhixue felt that although he didn't care much about these things... they could still be regarded as traditional Chinese culture and should have considerable cultural value to future generations, so they had to be kept well if they could be kept. This is why he increased his interest in these famous artists. Protection of calligraphy and painting.
Otherwise, it would be worse to be damaged by those princes and princesses who are ignorant and ignorant of the importance.
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The luxurious royal carriage traveled all the way from the imperial palace, and then headed to Xiannongtan in the southern suburbs, escorted by the imperial guards and many ministers.
Today I went to the Xiannong Altar to hold the Emperor’s personal plowing ceremony.
As a traditional feudal dynasty, the Chu Empire naturally followed many ancient traditions, such as focusing on agriculture!
And the emperor's own plowing, a typical ceremony that showed the importance of farming and mulberry trees, was even more indispensable.
Since Luo Zhixue ascended the throne, every year thereafter, he will perform the emperor's plowing ceremony on the first Hai day in February of the lunar calendar.
No exception!
After the capital was established in Jinling City, the palace was slowly being built due to financial constraints. However, the Xiannong Altar was built very quickly. It was completed that year, and the emperor's plowing ceremony was successfully held in the spring of the following year.
Today was no exception, and the overall ceremony of the Son of Heaven's plowing was even grander. The Son of Heaven included the Son of Heaven, several adult princes, and a large number of important court officials in Gyeonggi Province, all of whom had to participate.
The Son of Heaven's personal plowing ceremony has developed to this day and has become a very important political ceremony for the Chu Empire.
(End of chapter)
