When Yunxi left Beijing, his first stop was Fengyang, because he had to pay homage to the emperor's tomb.
The Fengyang Imperial Tomb was first built in the 26th year of Yuan Zhizheng (1366) and completed in the twelfth year of Hongwu. The construction lasted for more than 13 years. The Imperial Tomb covers an area of more than 20,000 acres (more than 100 hectares) and is the largest imperial mausoleum in North Korea.
It is twice the size of Gyeongbokgung Palace. The bones of Zhu Yuanzhang’s parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew are buried here.
Although Yunxi doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, he still believes in traditional Chinese Feng Shui. Yunxi originally thought that Feng Shui was all nonsense, but after learning more about it, he felt that it still made some sense. If nothing else.
, the ancient Feng Shui masters alone could tell that there was a complete plate beneath the city of Beiping. As the old saying goes: Cover the turtle, Yunxi felt that there was some way to do Feng Shui.
So Yunxi respectfully paid homage to his great-grandfather Renzu Emperor Chun (Zhu Wusi), Queen Chun Chen, and Zhu Yuanzhang's elder brother Nanchang Wang Zhu Xinglong (Zhu Chongwu), and his second brother Xuyi (xu,yi) Wang Zhu Xingsheng in the main hall.
(Zhu Chongliu), the stone tablet of the third brother Linhuai King Zhu Xingzu (Zhu Chongqi).
After paying homage to the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum, Yunxi stayed in Fengyang for a few days. At this time, the environment in Huaibei was not as bad as it was in the late Qing Dynasty. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, there was war and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal was blocked, but this was not a problem for Huaibei.
This was a bad thing, because the water volume decreased; and Zhu Yuanzhang planted a large number of mausoleum forests in Fengyang, resulting in Fengyang's forest coverage rate being extremely high; so the natural environment recovered a little.
Another peculiar thing about Fengyang is that there are countless criminals planting rice in the fields. Because Fengyang was the main battlefield of the war in the late Yuan Dynasty, there was not much population left. Although Zhu Yuanzhang moved many people from southern Jiangsu here, but
The population was still small, so Zhu Yuanzhang asked a large number of criminals who were not guilty enough to die to farm here. Even if a considerable part of them were sent to the border areas, there were still many criminals here. This can be regarded as the "poor and lower-middle peasants" to rehabilitate them.
Education'.
After Yunxi's on-the-spot investigation, he discovered that common sayings such as "Since the birth of Emperor Zhu, there have been nine years of famine in ten years" were all made up during the Manchu and Qing Dynasties. At least the people of the Fengyang generation now live a good life, not as good as those of the Beijing generation.
Poor. And the people who serve as officials here don't dare to do anything that Lao Zhu doesn't allow. The officials are also very clear-minded.
Yunxi later met with Fengyang's elders. This is also tradition. Lao Zhu met with Fengyang's elders several times when he visited the imperial mausoleum. Zhu Biao also met with Fengyang's elders twice when he visited Fengyang. Fengyang's
It only takes a few years to meet one of the highest-ranking people in the Ming Dynasty today. This may be one of the reasons why the officials who serve here are so clear-minded.
On the day of the meeting with the Fengyang elders, the Fengyang Zhongwei army arrived early to cooperate with the Fengyang magistrate's arrangements. Yunxi arrived at the place at Shenshi, and the sound of drums immediately sounded. Fengyang's elders, who are the representatives of the people, seemed to be
He was very experienced. When he heard the sound of drum music, he immediately knelt down and went up the mountain and shouted: "I have seen His Highness the Emperor Taisun. He is a thousand years old and a thousand years old."
Yunxi was startled. If he hadn't stayed calm with some experience over the years, he would have jumped up by now.
Yunxi had never been shouted "Qiantai" by so many people at the same time. After being frightened, he suddenly felt so majestic! He was suddenly intoxicated in this boundless majesty.
"No wonder Liu Bang went to Guanzhong once and saw Qin Shihuang traveling, and he said with emotion: Ouch! This is what a man should do! It turns out to be really fun!" Yunxi thought.
Afterwards, Yunxi delivered a few speeches and met with more than a dozen people's representatives.
Yunxi said: "Dear elders, although Your Majesty is in the capital, he has never forgotten the elders and fellow villagers in his hometown. If there are officials who are illegal or subordinate officials who are dishonest, you can tell me about it."
The leader, who is nearly seventy years old, is named Xu Xin. It is said that the person who had dinner with Lao Zhu said: "If you go back to Your Majesty Taisun, our life is very good. There are no officials who are lawless and there are no subordinates."
It’s not cheap, but the population is too small. It’s hard to see so many fields lying idle, and no one wants to cultivate them. Your Highness, can you ask the local officials to repair the waterways here so that we can use water more conveniently.”
Yunxi thought carefully and said, "I will tell your Majesty when I go back alone." However, although Yunxi said so, he was sure that Lao Zhu would not agree.
Fengyang's water conservancy facilities have been renovated the most in the country, more frequently than in Susong, a major grain-producing area. Any more renovations would be inappropriate.
After that, they just talked about some car-wheel talk, which was of no use. Yunxi originally wanted to ask Lao Zhu what it was like when he was begging for food, but he thought that Xu Xin might dare to say it when bragging to his own descendants, but not to outsiders.
I didn't dare to talk about begging for food back then, so I just gave it up.
After that, Yunxi met with the civil and military officials of the Zhongdu Left-behind Department. At this time, the Zhongdu Stay-behind Department, which had the highest official position in the Zhongdu area, was vacant. The first person who walked in surprised Yunxi, because after this man walked in, he saluted and said: "Your Majesty.
Sheng Yong, the commander of the remaining capital of Zhongdu and the commander of Sidu, has met His Highness the Emperor Taisun."
Yunxi was surprised: "Are you Sheng Yong?"
Sheng Yong said strangely: "I am indeed Sheng Yong."
Yunxi came back to his senses, Sheng Yong, this is the famous general "Jingnan". He has fought with Zhu Di continuously. Although he has the advantage of having more soldiers in a head-on battle, it is not easy to face Zhu Di, who is a famous general, without deciding the outcome.
.Although there is no shortage of generals in Yunxi now because Lao Zhu did not carry out a second purge of the famous founding generals, it is good to have one more.
Yunxi then had a cordial conversation with Sheng Yong. Sheng Yong kept thinking that some lord in the court mentioned his name to Yunxi, which made Yunxi pay so much attention to it.
After that, several people met Yunxi normally, and then there was another person who caught Yunxi's idea. This person was Guo Hongtao, who had previously served as the commander of the Jinyi Guards.
As mentioned before, the Jinyiwei in the late Hongwu period did not have so many secrets, so not many Jinyiwei commanders died during this period (Note 1). But Guo Hongtao served as the Jinyiwei commander for the longest time since the end of the Hu Weiyong case.
It is not easy for people to save their lives.
Yunxi remembered that Guo Hongtao was still very capable and was capable of doing reconnaissance work. Although Yunxi would not let him be the commander of the Jinyi Guards again, he could still be the chief officer responsible for external intelligence work.
So Yunxi had a good attitude and talked with Guo Hongtao. Guo Hongtao's own attitude was very peaceful, just like when Yunxi met him when he was the commander of the Jinyi Guards.
After that, Yunxi finished meeting with the officials in Fengyang, rested for another day, and then continued northward.
Continuing walking north from Fengyang, Yunxi went to Sizhou to pay homage to the Tomb of the Ming Dynasty.
The Ming Dynasty Ancestral Tomb was built in the 19th year of Hongwu (1386), and the main body was completed in the second year. It was personally supervised by Prince Yiwen Zhu Biao; after that, other facilities were built one after another. In the history of Yongle Ten
It was finally completed in one year (1413).
Yunxi also worshiped Lao Zhu's great-great-grandfather, great-grandfather and grandfather honestly. For Yunxi, he was his sixth-generation ancestor, fifth-generation ancestor and great-great-grandfather. Then Yunxi also inspected the Sizhou generation. But in
The focus of the investigation here is not the people's livelihood, but the location of the ancestral mausoleum.
When the ancestral mausoleum was first built, Zhu Yuanzhang was afraid that his luck would be leaked, so he didn't even dare to touch his grandfather's grave. He just buried his clothes and other items in the underground palace. But the problem was that the terrain here was not good. Yunxi had seen a story about it in his previous life.
A novel from the Ming Dynasty mentions that the Ming Dynasty Ancestral Tomb is located in nine hills and eighteen depressions, which is not a geomantic treasure at all. "Three hundred years later, it was flooded, so the geographical location was extremely bad."
After the on-the-spot investigation, Yunxi decided to go back and talk to Lao Zhu about changing the location to rebuild the ancestral mausoleum. Just like when Lao Zhu built the imperial palace and the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum, he asked Liu Bowen to survey the feng shui.
The Feng Shui master finds a place with excellent Feng Shui.
After that, Yunxi went north and arrived at Xuzhou Prefecture. Going further north from Xuzhou is the border of Shandong.
After passing Sizhou, Yunxi didn't want to disturb the people, so he stayed in the post station. Just after he stayed that night, he heard noises from outside. Yunxi was surprised: "The people in the post station knew that I was stationed here, so they still stayed there."
Dare you let others in? Is there another war in the north now?'
At this time, Chen Xing said outside: "Your Highness, Marquis Yongping passed by here and heard that His Highness was here, so he came in to see His Highness."
Yongpinghou Xie Cheng, a fellow Zhu Yuanzhang, made many military exploits and was named Yongpinghou. Historically, he was regarded as one of the remaining members of the Blue Jade Party who was killed. Although Yunxi didn’t know why he was killed, he must have died in
Zhu Yuanzhang's leader. Because he was also a general, Yunxi thought about it and agreed to his visit.
Xie Cheng walked in and saluted Yunxi. Of course Yunxi said: "Marquis Yongping is exempt from the ceremony."
Xie Cheng stood up after saluting. The two chatted for a while, and Yun He asked, "Why is Xie Hou in Xuzhou at this time?"
Xie Cheng said: "Your Majesty, I am returning to Beijing from Liaodong according to your Majesty's order, and I happened to pass by at this time."
Yunxi just asked a casual question and left it at that. The two talked some nonsense again, and Xie Cheng left.
Yunxi said: "Xiehou, please rest here today. One or two pieces of room can still be made available."
Xie Cheng said: "I have many followers, so I don't want to disturb Your Highness." Then he left the house. Then he left this inn and went to another inn.
But not long after he left the inn, he said to one of his followers: "You rush to Yanzhou immediately and tell him that His Highness the Emperor Taisun is coming to Yanzhou soon, and let him restrain himself for a few days."
Note 1: "History of the Ming Dynasty" Volume 142, Biographies 30, Song Zhong once served as the commander of the Jinyi Guards and then was transferred to Fengyang Zhongwei as the commander, so I wrote this.