When the sweet-scented osmanthus was fragrant, Emperor Zhu Yihai, escorted by the Beiyang Fleet, landed in Tianjin on the sailing battleship Beijing. He was escorted by Jinwu, Qianniu, Nei Siwei and others before heading to Beijing.
On the Double Ninth Festival, the emperor arrived in Beijing and entered the city.
It took more than half a year for the city of Beijing to be recovered, and the prince visited the north. After some repairs, the capital city was once again shining brightly.
The garrison that went north, as well as the family members who moved with them, as well as the soldiers and horses that had been disbanded and resettled in the two provinces before, gathered and appeased the homeless people, allowing the place to regain some vitality.
Even in the major towns in the capital and its suburbs, there were many shrewd businessmen who headed north immediately after the liberation.
After Zhu Yihai landed in Tianjin, along the way to Beijing, the North Canal from Dagu to Tianjin and the North Canal from Tianjin to Tongzhou resumed transportation and were very lively. The canal south of Tianjin was much deserted. Before that, the Tatars were still in Beijing.
At that time, the Grand Canal was basically closed.
Especially after the Ming army invaded Lai, the Tatar Canal officials also dug and diverted the Yellow River, completely interrupting the Grand Canal in Shandong.
At this time, the Ming army regained the pass and returned the capital to Beijing. A large amount of materials, money, food and even personnel arrived in Daku by sea, and even sailed directly to Tianjin.
From here, we changed ships and went directly to Tongzhou. A large amount of materials were first warehoused and stored in Tongzhou, and then distributed to Beijing. They were then continuously imported into Beijing through the Datong River.
The Huitong River has sufficient water, and even a large number of civilian ships can travel between Beijing and Tongzhou via this river.
Both sides of the canal are very lively, and it can even be said that it has been the busiest half a year since the end of Chongzhen. However, Zhu Yihai made a special trip to the counties and villages inland on both sides of the canal and found that these places were much deserted.
The Tatars have been in Beijing for several years and have caused great harm to the Beijing and Tianjin areas. They have seized the land, forced the people to surrender, and even hunted down escapees. As the situation worsened, they intensified their raids on the people of the capital, and the result was that the capital was in decline.
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And when they escaped, they carried out the final search and destruction without mercy. They took away everything they could and destroyed everything they couldn't take away. From money and food to livestock to people, they took away everything.
Those who don't leave will be slaughtered.
All the cities, villages and towns were set on fire, even the wells were filled in, the bridges were destroyed, and even the Datong River was deliberately destroyed by shipwrecks.
After Tu Guobao, Ma Guozhu and others regained Beijing, the crown prince patrolled the north on behalf of the emperor. Four senior cabinet ministers accompanied him to assist, and all kinds of troops and materials were mobilized northward. But now we can only prioritize the restoration of Beijing, Tianjin, and Tongzhou.
Especially the canal line.
As for other places, they can only recover slowly.
The land of Gyeonggi was once filled with royal palaces, palaces, and mansions, as well as the estates of nobles, ministers, and powerful men. But now, the place has been completely reshuffled.
During the Yuan and Ming dynasties, Beijing once had a population of one million. Jishuitan, the end point of the Tonghui River, was one of the most prosperous and largest commercial areas in Beijing. There were many restaurants and shops, rows of tiles and tiles, and singing and dancing performances attracted people to stop.
On both sides of the Beijing-Tianjin Canal, there are countless granary workshops.
There are even millions of Caoding trackers on the entire canal.
Shipmen, sailors, trackers, porters, porters, spring men, merchants, even prostitutes, thieves, countless people rely on water transportation and canals for their livelihood.
Nowadays, the Beijing-Tianjin canal is the first to regain its vitality.
Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty now focuses on shipping, and has been operating in Denglai for several years. It has stored a lot of materials, money and grain there, which are shipped from Tokyo Port to Tianjin Port, and then transported to Tianjin, Tongzhou, and Beijing. There are even relays for transfer and warehousing, so there is no need to go from the southern edge.
The Grand Canal travels thousands of miles north.
In this way, only less cost is required to re-dregate the Beijing-Tianjin section of the canal, the transportation capacity is greatly increased, and a steady stream of power is injected into the rebirth of Beijing and Tianjin.
After Zhu Yihai arrived in Ming Dynasty, this was his first visit to Beijing.
At first glance, I thought it was very shabby, even rustic.
It does not have the atmosphere of the Forbidden City in later generations, and it is not even as good as the Datong City built in later generations or the preserved Xi'an City Wall.
broken.
Although it has been repaired for more than half a year, the emperor's decree requires that it be used as long as it is functional, so the officials are acting in accordance with the decree.
It turns out that the Tatars set fire to the vast slums outside Beijing when they left, and almost all of them were burned down. The poor people's shacks, the few shops along the streets, and some workshops outside the city were all burned down.
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After the prince came, he simply had people clear out the shanty towns outside the city wall that had been expanded due to the increase in population in the past. Anyway, there are not so many people now.
After cleaning and leveling, the outer city wall of Beijing was again clearly visible.
The moat was dredged and the city walls and gates were simply repaired.
There was also a fire in Sijiu City, and most of it was destroyed, so we simply carried out a cleanup. Those that were expanded and erected haphazardly were simply demolished and cleaned up.
After demolition and cleaning everywhere, although the city of Beijing is still dusty, it is now much neater.
Various ministries and yamen sent vanguard troops to Beijing, and each stationed itself to take over its own yamen, and restored and organized the affairs themselves.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival, the various government offices in Beijing had already officially opened their offices to do business. The emperor arrived after the Double Ninth Festival and was already too late.
Although the capital was destroyed by the Tatars, its foundation was still there. Although the Ming Dynasty was in a hurry to move the capital, its prestige was here, and business gangs from all over the country rushed to come.
Under the leadership of the prince, the entire inner and outer city of Beijing was re-planned, including residential areas, residential areas, office areas for various government offices, workshop areas, and commercial areas.
Some adjustments have been made to the original layout.
Even for the demolished open spaces outside the city, advance planning and deployment has begun.
These planned lands are invited for investment and construction, and are then sold or rented after completion. Due to the cooperation model with contractors, after completion, some land or houses, shops, etc. are given to the contractors, allowing them to sell or rent or use them for themselves.
It's going pretty smoothly.
Anyway, when Zhu Yihai entered the city, several main roads had been repaired and were even neater than before.
The cannons erected on the top of the city and the soldiers in military uniforms standing solemnly also make people feel safe.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The Forbidden City of the Imperial Palace has undergone simple renovations. Although it is simple, neither the prince nor the elders dare to be careless. No matter how limited the funds are, they have to dig some to come here.
Although it has not been completely overhauled, there will not be weeds everywhere, the roof will leak, or the house will be damaged.
The red walls were all painted, the tiles on the roof were inspected, and the damaged ones were replaced, and even the beams and columns were repainted.
On the surface, it looks very glamorous.
However, the furnishings inside seemed a bit simple, and everything of value had been taken away by the Tatars.
Zhu Yihai didn't care too much about this, he didn't even notice it.
The prince asked him to apologize, and he noticed it, but waved his hand indifferently, "They are just decorations, don't worry, let's do business first.
I am very satisfied with the fact that Beijing and Tianjin have been restored so well in such a short period of time. The prince has done a great job on this errand." Zhu Yihai patted Hong Jia on the shoulder to express his praise.
Zhu Yihai lived in the Forbidden City in Nanjing for a while. The Forbidden City in Beijing was basically built based on the Forbidden City in Nanjing, and the overall layout was basically the same.
"Compared to the Horai Palace in Tokyo, this place is much more spacious."
Zhu Yihai also lived in Penglai Palace in Dengzhou for three years, but it was originally just a small government office that was temporarily renovated, so he still didn't think it was a problem.
"To say that the Tatars are quite particular, they set fire to and destroy everywhere, but they showed mercy to the Forbidden City and didn't burn it?"
He thought that maybe the Tatars still harbored illusions and thought of coming back in the future. Or maybe, since all the good things were taken away, the palace was not burned down.
But no matter what, the Forbidden City is basically well-preserved, and the palace that cannot be taken away is still very valuable.
I think Beijing was originally a fiefdom when Zhu Di was the king of Yan. After the Jingnan Campaign, some ministers reported that Yanjing and Peiping were the place where the emperor flourished, and they should follow Taizu's approach to Fengyang and make it a companion capital.
Zhu Di then promoted the status of Yanjing's Beiping Prefecture, changed Peking to Beijing, changed Peking to Shuntian Prefecture, and called it Xingzai. At the same time, he began to relocate people to enrich Beijing, and forcibly relocated refugees from various places, wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River, and Shanxi businessmen.
In the fourth year of Yongle's reign, an edict was issued to build the Beijing Imperial Palace and city walls based on the Nanjing Imperial Palace, and sent personnel to various places to mine precious wood and stone and transport them to Beijing. The preparation work alone lasted eleven years.
In order to harvest those precious nanmu trees, a thousand people went into the mountain and only 500 came out. It was equally difficult to mine the stones for building the palace.
Jinshen Hall, which is the largest Danbi stone that was renamed Jianji Hall during the Jiajing period, was mined in Fangshan, southwest of Beijing, and was transported by tens of thousands of workers. Not only did a transportation road be specially opened, but also digging was done every other mile.
A well was chosen during the extremely cold weather in the twelfth lunar month of winter. Water was drawn from the well and the road turned into an ice road. It took twenty-eight days to deliver it to the palace.
The gold bricks used exclusively for the imperial palace were fired in Suzhou, Jiangnan, and the tribute bricks were fired in Linqing, Shandong.
It was not until the 18th year of Yongle that the Beijing Imperial Palace and Beijing City were completed. The completed Beijing Imperial Palace was larger than the Nanjing Imperial Palace.
The newly built city of Beijing has a circumference of forty-five miles and is in a regular square shape. It was built according to the ideal capital shape in Zhou Li and Kao Gong Ji.
Fourteen of the sixteen emperors of the Ming Dynasty lived in the Forbidden City in Beijing.
However, the palace had just been completed in the 18th year of Yongle. A fire broke out the following year, burning down the first three halls. Twenty years later, the first three halls and the Qianqing Palace were rebuilt. It went through the Yongle, Hongxi, Xuande, and Zhengtong dynasties.
A hundred years later, during the Jiajing period, another fire broke out in the Forbidden City. The first three halls, Fengtian Gate, Wenwu Tower, Meridian Gate, etc. were all burned down. It took four years to rebuild them all. The three newly completed halls were renamed Huangji Hall. Zhongji Hall, Jianji Hall.
But forty years later, in the twenty-fifth year of Wanli, there was another fire in the Forbidden City, burning the three front and back palaces. The reconstruction project was not completed until the seventh year of the Apocalypse.
These halls have been on fire many times, and each reconstruction has cost a lot of money. The main reason is that the materials used are relatively special. For example, the beams and columns are mostly made of golden nanmu, and the old, thick and even straight nanmu. Other stones are also very precious.
Even the bricks and tiles are all specially made.
Even the paint used is not ordinary.
Not to mention that the craftsmanship is top-notch. Even the pillars made of golden nanmu still need to be wrapped with hemp. The specific process is to first brush a thin layer of primer on the pillars, then catch the ash and then sweep away the ash. , then cover it with linen, then press hemp ash, then medium ash, then fine ash, and then grind it into finer pieces.
Even the hemp has to be combed in the early stage and smoothed before use. There is a process of batching the hemp, and there are more than a dozen processes such as sizing and gluing the hemp.
Therefore, the cost of building a palace is too high.
If the Tatars had set fire to it when they left, Zhu Yihai might not be able to live in a new palace in his lifetime. Although they have moved away what they can take with them, the palace columns, red walls, glazed tiles, tiles, and gold bricks are all a waste. Big price.
Not only did it cost a lot of money, but it also took a lot of man-hours. It is not easy to find so many old craftsmen now.
Zhu Yihai took the drawings of the Forbidden City and made arrangements.
He himself lived in the Qianqing Palace, the first of the three inner palaces. The Prime Minister's Office was located outside the Qianqing Gate. There were also guard duty rooms, inner memorial rooms, south study rooms, upper study rooms, imperial tea rooms, and imperial pharmacy rooms on both sides.
The Jiaotai Hall behind the Qianqing Palace was also the place where the queen met with her concubine during important festivals. It was also where the emperor stored his twenty-five seals.
The last Kunning Palace is the queen's bedroom, but now the queen's position is vacant.
"The prince lives in Ciqing Palace."
Ciqing Palace is located to the east of the first three palaces and to the south of Renshou Palace. It has red walls and green tiles and is called Nansan Palace. It contains four palaces, Fenchen Palace, Xunqin Palace, Chenghua Palace and Zhaojian Palace.
Passing Huiyin Gate from Ciqing Palace to the south are Wenhua Palace and Wenyuan Pavilion, where the cabinet is located.
Ciqing Palace has always been the residence of the prince of the Ming Dynasty. It is located on the east side of the outer court area of the palace. It is a relatively independent area. In the Ming Dynasty, there were also the Royal Horse Prison, the Palm Print Bingbi Zhifang, Yuanhui Palace, etc. next to it.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Qianqing Gate is the boundary between the inside and outside of the palace. Inside the gate is the living area of the emperor and his concubines. The emperor lives in Qianqing Palace, and the queen lives in Kunning. There are six east and west palaces and twelve palaces on both sides of the palace. In addition, there are Cining Palace and Renshou Palace where the Queen Mother lives.
The northernmost one is Xuanwu Gate.
The front sleeping area and the back sleeping area are actually very large. Even the six east and west palaces, these twelve palaces, are all a palace group. They are also divided into the front hall and the back sleeping area. The front hall is where people worship and ascend, and the back hall is where people worship and ascend. The palace is a sleeping palace, with three east and west side halls, and several side rooms each.
A palace can accommodate one concubine, and the side palace can also accommodate lower-status concubines, nobles, etc.
Basically, concubines can have a palace of their own. Those below the concubine level can at least have their own side hall or wing in the palace of the concubines. There is no need to open a bunkhouse.
Zhu Yihai assigned a palace to each of the nine concubines. The other lower-ranking beauties Zhaoyi Jieyu and even Chang Zai agreed to these arrangements, so it was left to Concubine Chen Huang and Concubine Ruan, who are now in charge of the harem affairs, to make arrangements.
Zhu Yihai arranged for Concubine Chen to go to Cining Palace and Concubine Ruan to Renshou Palace. Anyway, there were no empress dowagers.
The Yangxin Hall to the west of the Qianqing Palace is equivalent to the emperor's second bedroom. Although the Yangxin Palace is not as good as the Qianqing Palace, which is the first of the three palaces, it is still a palace complex with 18 buildings. The main hall is seven rooms wide. There are three rooms deep inside, which can integrate office, living, reception, and banquets. There is a warehouse on the southernmost side, and an imperial dining room on the north side of the warehouse.
Compared with the single function of Qianqing Palace, living here is obviously more comfortable.
After being deposed, Zhang was left by Zhu Yihai in Penglai Palace to recuperate from asthma, and other concubines came.
"The Prime Minister's Office is located outside the Qianqing Gate. The Prime Minister, the Attendant Reader, and the Attendant Lecturer are on duty. If anything happens, it is convenient for me to know immediately."
The cabinet is still in Wenyuan Pavilion.
Wenyuan Pavilion is located on the east side of the Meridian Gate. It is considered the front of the former court and is convenient for cabinet ministers to communicate with the outside world.
When the emperor usually summoned ministers, he would choose the Wuying Hall on the west side of Fengtian Gate and the Wenhua Hall on the east side. Zhu Yihai left it to Prince Hongjia. If he summoned officials from the East Palace or foreign ministers, he could go to the Wenhua Hall.
"Your Majesty, I would like to ask your Majesty to issue an order regarding the arrangements for the imperial guards and the Imperial Guards."
Zhu Yihai thought for a moment and said, "Suppose there are nine internal and external admirals and five city military and horse departments to perform their respective duties..."