Early the next morning, Emperor Hongwu, accompanied by Li Shanchang, inspected his new residence, the Forbidden City in Zhongdu.
If yesterday he was still impressed by the majesty, order and regulation of the outer city, it was truly the best in the world.
Today, he was completely shocked by the grandeur and splendor of the palaces in the Forbidden City. Every building and gate in the Forbidden City was extremely luxurious, and the various stone-carved buildings were even more gorgeous and ingenious.
For example, the nine dragons and four phoenix cloud patterns engraved on the steps of the royal road are exquisite and lifelike, and they are completely top-notch works of art.
Zhu Yuanzhang knelt down and stroked the relief on the steps that seemed to be about to take off at any time, but his face gradually became ugly. "How much will this cost?"
"Back to the emperor, this Yunlong step stone is carved from a whole piece of white jade. The original stone is six feet long, one foot wide, and seven or eight feet thick." Xue Xiang on the side introduced: "In order to transport the original stone from Nanyang, Henan
It took a total of more than 20,000 civilians to transport it using rolling logs. It took a full six months, and the freight alone cost 200,000 guan."
"Absurd!" Zhu Yuanzhang's face became even more ugly, and he turned around and said displeasedly to Mr. Han: "Isn't this too wasteful? Two hundred thousand dollars to transport a stone? How much can you do with this money? It's too extravagant!"
"Your Majesty, please calm down." Li Shanchang calmly said:
"Yesterday, the superior also talked about Xiao He's construction of Chang'an. At that time, Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty also inspected the newly built Weiyang Palace. After inspection, he also thought that the palace was too magnificent and luxurious, so he blamed Xiao He and said: 'My uprising was originally to save the people.
.Now that the world is settled and the people are poor and have all their money, how can this palace be built so luxuriously?'"
"Oh?" Zhu Yuanzhang really listened.
Li Shanchang knew Boss Zhu very well and knew that he had resonance with Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, so it was easier than anyone else to talk about Liu Bang. He then continued:
"When Xiao He saw Liu Bang's accusation, he calmly said: 'It is precisely because the world is not yet stable that we can take the opportunity to recruit more people and materials to build palaces. Moreover, the emperor controls all directions, and the majesty of the palace can be shown.
Lest future generations have to rebuild again.'"
Li Shanchang paused, looked at Zhu Yuanzhang's face and said: "When Liu Bang heard these words, he turned from anger to joy and said, 'This is Mr. Gu Cuoguai'."
Although Zhu Yuanzhang did not turn from anger to joy, his expression did soften a lot. He stood up slowly, looked at the rising sun in the distance, remained silent for a long time, and then said: 'It's still early, let's go out of the palace and go for a walk.'"
"yes."
~~
The monarch, ministers and guards put on the uniforms of ordinary officials and soldiers and left the Forbidden City through Donghua Gate.
Zhu Yuanzhang walked ahead silently with his hands behind his back, not allowing anyone to lead him or telling others where he was going.
Just walked and walked in silence.
At this time, everyone could feel that something was wrong in the atmosphere. Xue Xiang, who was following him, felt terrified and looked at Li Shanchang for help.
Mr. Han shook his head slightly, signaling him to calm down.
Finally, Zhu Yuanzhang stood in front of a construction site that was under construction.
"This is..." Xue Xiang was about to introduce, but Zhu Yuanzhang raised his hand to signal them all to shut up.
Then he walked into the construction site and saw that although it was very busy with all kinds of materials and tools piled up, the entire construction site was very orderly, and the craftsmen and laborers also performed their duties and were busy in an orderly manner.
Zhu Yuanzhang carefully looked at the busy craftsmen and civilians.
Although they were unkempt and dirty, their muscles were strong and their movements were powerful. It was obvious that they were in good health.
"Come here, both of you." Zhu Yuanzhang casually nodded to two people.
The two of them looked at the official in charge, who smiled kindly and said: "The noble man wants to ask you something, please come over quickly."
"Hey, hey." The two of them quickly put down their work, wiped their hands randomly, and cautiously arrived in front of Boss Zhu.
"Don't be nervous, let's just chat casually." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and asked where the two of them were from, how they came here, and how long they had been here. When can they go home?
The two of them answered Xiangguan awkwardly. One said that he was a civilian husband who was sent to serve, and the other said that he was a craftsman who came to serve. Both of them had been here for almost a year and could go back to celebrate the New Year in the winter.
"Are there many civilians coming to your place?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked again.
"Not too much, not too much, every ten households have one worker, and when spring goes and autumn comes, it takes ten years for the next one to come," the craftsman said.
"Yes, yes, I and another villager came to our village." The villager said.
"That's not bad, do you want to give me money for work and food?" Zhu Yuanzhang asked again.
"I'll give you all on time." The craftsman said with a naive smile, "But the food and accommodation are all on the construction site, so there's no need for them."
"We'll talk about my wife when I get home." Zhu Yuanzhang joked.
"Hahaha." Li Shanchang and others quickly laughed with him.
"Are you tired at the construction site? How about the food?" Emperor Zhu continued to ask.
"I am definitely tired, but the food is good. I have enough dry food and enough vegetables." The two craftsmen praised highly:
“We can also eat meat during the holidays.”
"This is all as it should be. The emperor still has hungry soldiers." Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "Besides, you are still working hard. What can you do if you don't have enough to eat?"
"What we have done is not enough." Li Shanchang observed his words, and then he dared to say with shame: "The construction is over budget, money is too tight, and there are too many mouths to eat. At present, we can only eat enough, but we can't let everyone eat well.
.”
"Well." Zhu Yuanzhang finally had a smile on his face and said to Li Shanchang and Xue Xiang: "Reduce those flashy expenses and spend more money to improve the food for everyone. We can't let the people from all over the world go back and say, fix it for Zhu Yuanzhang
A palace is not as good as building a house for the landlord's family and providing them with good food."
"Yes, yes, yes." The two of them hurriedly responded.
~~
In the afternoon, the Lubu ceremonial guard and the retinue left Zhongdu and drove toward the imperial mausoleum in a mighty manner.
On the imperial chariot, Zhu Yuanzhang leaned against the bright yellow pillow and asked the prince to massage his legs. He walked at least 30,000 steps in the morning, which was as long as Li Shanchang could walk like a duck.
"His grandma's life has been going around all morning, but he didn't find a suitable problem." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed and said: "Boss, do you think the work done by this old Li is really that tough?"
"Didn't you also find some faults?" Zhu Biao said softly.
"For such a huge project, if it can be nine percent good and only have one minor problem, it will be innocuous. We can't force it anymore." Zhu Yuanzhang touched his chin and said with a complicated expression: "And this is more valuable because it is true."
"Is it true..." Zhu Biao whispered again: "I think it's a bit deliberate."
After a pause, he whispered: "And when I told Uncle Tang about the Zhongdu Project, he talked about it several times. He kept saying that he had been recovering from his injuries for too long and didn't know anything."
"That guy has been naughty since he was a child. He can't hide as fast as anyone in danger, so he gets beaten the least." Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled and said, "It seems that he has sensed some danger again."
He waved his hands and said, "I won't guess anymore. When the ancestor worship is finished, I'll just find him and ask him."
