On February 28, the twenty-seventh year of Xuanping, Shengjia arrived at one of the most important railway hubs in the empire in the Central Plains: Kaifeng Prefecture in Henan Province.
However, it is worth mentioning that although the Central Plains Railway, the Northern Railway and the Northwest Railway intersect in Kaifeng Prefecture, it does not mean that it is in Kaifeng City, but in Zhengzhou to the west.
The geographical location of Kaifeng City is actually not very good and it is prone to flooding. Therefore, when the railway was being built, Kaifeng was specifically avoided and Zhengzhou was chosen to the west of Kaifeng.
However, at that time and even now, Zhengzhou was under the rule of Kaifeng Prefecture, so in terms of title, it is not wrong to continue to call it Kaifeng Prefecture.
Because Zhengzhou has always been a prefecture-level state rather than a provincial-level state, this has also resulted in the fact that although Zhengzhou has developed well, the administrative level of its prefecture has always been low.
In the local political structure of the empire, the governors of various provinces and the four Taoist officials of Zhili were all from the second rank.
The prefects of each prefecture are of the fourth rank.
For provinces directly under the jurisdiction of provinces, their governors are from the fourth rank.
For states directly under the jurisdiction of the prefecture, the governor of the state is from the fifth rank.
The magistrates of each county are at the sixth level.
Counties are under the jurisdiction of various towns, and the magistrate towns are in the seventh rank.
The village chiefs of the villages under the town are of the ninth grade.
As for there are several other special administrative structures, for example, Chengtian Mansion is the seat of the capital, and the level of the prefect of Chengtian Mansion is from the second level, which is the same level as provincial governors and Taoist priests.
In addition, various industrial zones, trade zones, development zones, etc. are generally adapted to local conditions. In some places, the district chief of the industrial zone yamen may only be in the seventh or eighth grade. For example, in the famous Lingao Industrial Zone, its districts
In fact, he is only in the seventh grade.
However, the grades of the district chiefs of some industrial zones are very high. For example, the grade of the district chief of Shanghai No. 1 Industrial Zone is the fifth grade.
Basically there is no comparability and cannot be unified.
In the early years of Zhengzhou, as a prefecture, its magistrate level was only from the fifth level. However, in the past ten years, this state has suddenly become connected due to its railway hub.
Within a few years, its economic output value had far exceeded that of Kaifeng City, the capital of Henan Province and the prefecture of Kaifeng at that time!
Because of its railway hub and the fact that Kaifeng was plagued by floods from the Yellow River all year round, the empire officially decided to move the provincial capital of Henan Province from Kaifeng to Zhengzhou on the 23rd year of Xuan Ping.
Also accompanying the move was the Yamen of the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture.
So this sudden string of Zhengzhou is also the capital of Henan Province, the prefectural city of Kaifeng, the prefectural city of Zhengzhou, and, by the way, it is also the county seat of Xingyang County.
There are more administrative agencies at this level than most cities where provincial governments are located.
In fact, many people have been thinking about turning Zhengzhou into a province and prefecture in recent years. However, Kaifeng Prefecture strongly opposed it. Instead, they proposed another solution, which is to directly abolish Zhengzhou's state-level institutions and subordinate them.
Each county is directly under the jurisdiction of the prefect's Yamen.
These two plans are currently being debated, so they have been postponed.
Although there is some administrative confusion in Zhengzhou, this has not affected Zhengzhou or Kaifeng from becoming the most important railway hub and industrial city in the Central Plains.
Because it is a railway hub, this place became a strategic location when the Central Plains Railway was built. Not only were army troops stationed here, but also Guards troops were stationed here.
Normally, the main force of the Guards is stationed in Chengtian Mansion, but there will also be a small number of Guards troops stationed in several strategic locations in turns, such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Jiujiang, Tianjin, and Kaifeng.
They are all garrisoned by Guards.
It's just that the number of troops has never been large, and outsiders don't know much about it.
The military knows the strategic position of this place, and ordinary people are not stupid and understand it too.
Relying on the convenient transportation of the railway hub and the continuous management of the Yellow River over the years, it also has navigation capabilities and can connect to the canal area through the Yellow River, so the industry in Zhengzhou has also developed in recent years.
However, the time was still short, so most of what Li Xuan saw were large and large construction sites, and there were not too many large-scale enterprises that were actually completed and put into production.
But just by looking at these construction sites, Li Xuan can tell that Zhengzhou's rapid development in the next ten or even twenty years is certain.
If it cannot develop despite relying on such a railway hub, then it must not be any other objective factors, but human factors. Li Xuan will inevitably have to deal with all the local mid-level and senior officials.
However, although it has potential, the dusty construction site is really not interesting, so after Li Xuan stopped for a while, he started to head west, arriving in Luoyang and then heading to Chang'an, Shaanxi Province.
Chang'an in Shaanxi was one of the three major capitals of the empire.
It's just that the imperial capitals are only nominal capitals. Whether it's Zhaoqing, Chang'an, or Youzhou, they basically only have the name of companion capital, but in fact they don't have any functions or functions.
privilege.
Because at that time, this companion capital was just for balance. After Jinling City was established as the capital, Li Xuan forgot about the so-called companion capital.
Therefore, in fact, the three major capitals of the empire are not developing very well. Youzhou is directly operated as a military fortress by the empire.
In order to weaken the influence of the old and young of the former Ming Dynasty, the Tang Empire directly abandoned the huge city of Youzhou, and instead chose to make Tianjin the political and economic center of the north.
Youzhou City was quite lively at first, but it declined within a few years.
A large number of middle and upper class people have fled Youzhou City one after another, leaving only ordinary people who have no way to escape. The entire population of Youzhou City is now only about 150,000, which is far less than the 400,000 to 500,000 people in neighboring Tianjin.
Population size.
Its economic pillar is basically agriculture, with very little industry, so it can basically be ignored.
Youzhou, which has been the political center of China's great cities for the past two to three hundred years, is now completely ruined.
But this is a good thing for the Tang Empire!
Because Youzhou City surrendered at that time, no large-scale siege operations broke out. In addition, the Tang Dynasty did not carry out large-scale purges of the city, so there were many old people and children from the former Ming Dynasty in Youzhou City.
.
But while the old and the young disgusted Datang, Datang did even more amazing things!
They directly abandoned Youzhou City and chose Tianjin as the provincial capital and strategic location in the north. The huge Youzhou City was used as a huge military camp.
The result is like this...
Youzhou, which is the companion capital, is like this, and Chang'an, which is also the companion capital, is not much better. Although it is the provincial capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi's economy is not very good, so it cannot develop if it wants to.
Today's Chang'an, for the Tang Dynasty, probably its greatest role is to serve as the rear for the westward advance!
Li Xuan did not stay in Chang'an for long, nor did he say to continue westward to Gansu, but returned eastward directly.
After arriving in Kaifeng, head north and head to Tianjin!
The journey north was naturally a routine inspection, nothing special. When he arrived in Tianjin and headed to Youzhou, Li Xuan stayed in Xiyuan in the Forbidden City and took a look around the dilapidated Forbidden City with great interest.
Then they continued westward and set foot on the grassland, where they galloped with horses and held a hunt.
Li Xuan found this hunt quite interesting and thought he could do more hunts in the future.
This kind of hunting may sound like hunting, but in fact it can be regarded as a kind of military exercise, and it can cultivate the martial spirit in the country.
After returning to Tianjin from the grassland, Li Xuan had basically completed most of his cruise.
As for the Northeast, he doesn't plan to go there. It's too far and too cold. It's not the key. The key is that the Northeast is still relatively desolate, and there's not much to see there.
So the holy driver started his return journey!
The return trip was much faster than the trip north, because Li Xuan was inspecting while going north, and would often stop to inspect somewhere for a day or two.
But on the way back south, there won't be any inspections. All the way south, unless you add coal and water and stay overnight, you won't stop or inspect anything.
It had been more than three months since the tour started. To be honest, Li Xuan also wanted to return to Jinling City.
Taking the train every day, no matter how comfortable and luxurious the royal train is, Li Xuan still feels a little tired.
And in more than three months, he has basically seen everything he should see. He knows the good and the bad. Now that he returns, he will naturally make targeted adjustments according to many situations.
Otherwise, why would he spend so much time touring the country?
The Holy Emperor returned south and soon passed through Xuzhou. When he was about to arrive at Jinling City, Prince Li Hao, who had been in charge of the country for more than three months, also breathed a sigh of relief.
In the past three months, Li Xuan was tired from his tour, and the prince Li Hao who stayed behind in the capital was even more tired!
It's not that I'm physically tired, but that I'm mentally tired.
Li Hao, who was in charge of the country for the first time, felt tremendous pressure from the first day. All kinds of pressures came at him from all directions.
He had to deal with various daily affairs, while major matters had to be quickly passed on to his father for processing.
At the same time, more importantly, he must guard against unrest in Gyeonggi!
Fortunately, his father was considerate of him. At the end of last year, he drove the three vassal kings back to their overseas fiefdoms. If the three vassal kings stayed in the country, it didn't matter whether they stayed in the capital or went on patrol with Li Xuan.
, Li Hao had to be on tenterhooks.
Several brothers were driven to overseas fiefdoms by his father, and the military leaders were also taken away by his father. Only lieutenant general-level generals and civil servants were left in Gyeonggi, which made Li Hao feel much less stressed.
But even so, he couldn't eat well or sleep well in the past three months, for fear of causing some turmoil.
But sometimes, he vaguely expects something to change!
Over the past three months, Li Hao has endured hardships that outsiders cannot imagine.
And when he knew that his father had already passed Xuzhou, entered Fengyang, and was expected to arrive at Jinling North Station tomorrow, he was greatly relieved.
All the pressure disappeared with Li Xuan's return!