prosperous age

Although he didn't know the reason why King Yu went to mourn Lu Bing, Yan Shifan knew that some things that had been planned had to be changed.

In the afternoon, Yan Shifan got the news from the Lu family in the other courtyard. King Yu offered his condolences in person. Although it was very low-key, the news of King Yu's condolences to Lu Bing quickly spread throughout the capital.

"Has the prince not arrived yet?"

Yan Shifan saw that the food and wine in front of him were no longer fragrant, and the beautiful beauties beside him were not attractive at this time, and his eyes were fixed on the piece of paper in his hand that recorded King Yu's words and deeds when he mourned at Lu's house.

Was Lu Bing so nice to King Yu when he was a child?How did I not hear it being said.

He also carried the infant King Yu to Qianqing Palace to meet the emperor. Can Lu Bing enter and leave the harem?
The more Yan Shifan watched, the more anxious he became. If these news spread, it would be clear to others that Lu Bing liked Yu Wang very much a long time ago, and he still has some affection for Yu Wang.

The most important thing is that in Lu's mansion, Lu Bing helped him a lot with what King Yu said inside and outside the words, and it was almost as if Lu Bing had secretly tipped him off.

Originally, Yan Shifan made up a lie about Lu Bing taking refuge in King Yu just to fool King Jing into making a move.

In the past, Yan Shifan thought that Lu Bing held a neutral attitude and kept silent on the issue of establishing a crown prince. Unexpectedly, he had already secretly colluded with King Yu.

As for Wei Guangde, at this time Yan Shifan only thought that Prince Yu's mansion had sent him to Lu's mansion to check the wind direction. After all, King Yu was here in person, and the fewer people there, the better, and the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

The whereabouts of Li San, the family member of the Wei family, who left Lu's mansion was also found out. He really went to Yu Wang's mansion. Not long after Li San left, Yu Wang left the mansion and went straight to Lu's house to express his condolences.

It's just that it's useless to think about these things. Now Yan Shifan urgently needs to come up with a countermeasure to deal with it. The previous plan must not continue.

What happened during the day, at night, Emperor Jiajing also knew it in Yongshou Palace.

In the past, these notes were sent by Lu Bing, but now Zhu Xizhong, the commander of Jinyiwei, handed them over to Dongchang, and Huang Jin handed them over to Emperor Jiajing.

"King Yu? Full moon?"

Like Yan Shifan, at this time, Emperor Jiajing's imperial book case also had a note recording King Yu's words of condolence in the Lu Mansion.

Emperor Jiajing read the recorded note, turned his head and thought for a while, it was too long, and he couldn't remember it anymore.

It all happened more than 20 years ago, and he didn't take it seriously at that time.

"Huang Jin, when King Yu was full moon, was it Lu Bing who carried the child to Qianqing Palace?"

After speaking, Emperor Jiajing looked at Huang Jin.

"It seems to be the case."

Huang Jin on the side had read these notes a long time ago, and of course noticed them. After careful recollection, Huang Jin vaguely remembered that this was true, so he replied immediately after Emperor Jiajing asked.

When King Yu was born, Emperor Jiajing went to sit in Concubine Kang's Palace, looked at the newly born King Yu, and never set foot there again.

Afterwards, Concubine Kang was conferred the title of Concubine Kang, and concubine Jing, the concubine of King Jing, was conferred with her.

But King Yu and King Jing were treated differently. Because Concubine Jing was favored, King Jing could see Emperor Jiajing from time to time at that time.

As for the so-called "two dragons will not meet" motto, it is actually aimed at the emperor and the prince.

The eldest son of Emperor Jiajing died just over two months after he was born, and he was posthumously named Prince Aichong.

The second son Zhu Zaiyu, King Changyu and King Jing were two years old, and was established as a prince when he was three years old. Jiajing died in 28 years at the age of 14, and he was given the posthumous title of Prince Zhuang Jing.

Although Emperor Jiajing liked and paid the most attention to his second son, he was indeed influenced by Tao Zhongwen, and he never saw him again after his second son was made the prince.

Because of the relationship with the prince, Emperor Jiajing could naturally meet the other two sons.

It's just that Queen Yu's concubine is not favored, and the chances of seeing the emperor are few and far between. This is one of the reasons why King Jing is rumored to be more favored.

And until the prince was out of the pavilion to study, Emperor Jiajing was forced to meet the prince on the same day due to the ancestral system, but he did not expect that the prince fell ill and died soon. Emperor Jiajing himself was shocked, so he simply never summoned the remaining two A son, let alone a prince.

If father and son do not meet each other, they will naturally not violate that maxim.

Although not publicly summoned, Emperor Jiajing didn't ignore his two sons. In fact, he had been watching them secretly all these years.

He had seen the performances of King Yu and King Jing in the past. Emperor Jiajing naturally knew about King Jing's little actions, but he didn't do anything.

The emperor dislikes his son thinking about inheriting the throne when he is still in good health. Isn't that a curse for him to die early?
But Emperor Jiajing didn't dare to punish his son lightly, and there were only two of the four sons left. If there is another accident, I can't imagine it.

How he himself sat on the throne, Emperor Jiajing knew best in his heart.

Hearing Huang Jin's confirmed answer, Emperor Jiajing was only slightly taken aback, and then said with some disinterestedness: "Unexpectedly, Lu Bing and King Yu, haha"

"My lord, Wen Fu is loyal to you. As for King Yu, I'm afraid it's because of you that he is worried about being bullied too much."

Huang Jin said cautiously on the side.

"Jade can't be cut without being cut, it's just a little bit of tempering. When I first became a great treasure, it was much harder than him."

Emperor Jiajing suddenly said in a serious tone. In the change of attitude, the topic also changed to other matters.

"Have you found the mastermind behind it?"

Hearing Emperor Jiajing's question, Huang Jin hurriedly knelt down to explain.

Emperor Jiajing knew from looking at his actions that there should still be no progress.

"The emperor's redemption."

"Forget it. Since they dared to do this, they must have thought about the follow-up method. Try to investigate as much as possible. I won't force you."

Huang Jin hurriedly kowtowed to thank him, and was about to get up when he heard Emperor Jiajing's question again.

"I discussed the rumors with Wen Fu about the feudal clan, did you find out the source?"

Huang Jin immediately knelt down again, wanting to report good news to Emperor Jiajing, but there was none.

"Report to the emperor, but I haven't found out yet. The news seems to have spread in a very short time. According to my judgment, it should be a rumor spread by many people at the same time."

"It's time for the inner court to rectify, and you, the admiral and eunuch, should pay more attention."

The fierce look in Emperor Jiajing's eyes flashed away, and he said in a bad tone: "They all call you ancestor, but if you can't even control people, what's the use of it."

"I'm guilty of the crime, so I'm going to make great efforts to rectify it so that this kind of thing doesn't happen again."

Huang Jin hurriedly kowtowed to admit his mistake.

"Pull it out, did you stop it? I want you to keep your eyes peeled, so that you don't know who to blame if something goes wrong."

Emperor Jiajing shook his head slightly and said dissatisfied.

Get up, go inside, muttering softly while walking, "It's time to go, the child is old, sooner or later he has to leave"

After Emperor Jiajing entered, Huang Jincai who was kneeling on the ground slowly got up, reached out to wipe the cold sweat off his head, and looked towards the direction where Emperor Jiajing disappeared with lingering fear.

At this time, King Yu was sitting alone in the study in the inner courtyard of the palace, in a daze.

In the morning, he followed Gao Gong's suggestion and went to Lu Mansion to express his condolences in person. At that time, he didn't think too much about it. What Master Gao said should be right.

King Yu was still very excited to come to the palace once in a while.

It's not that the emperor grounded him, but that he really didn't know what to do outside the palace.

Perhaps this is also his sorrow, the officials of the royal family around him have a place to go after their duties, but he can't.

In fact, he can, but after he goes, the news will soon be spread all over the city, and some officials will even impeach him, because in their view, King Yu is the crown prince, and his words and deeds should set an example for the world. They cannot tolerate his behavior A blemish.

These are what Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen said, and Yu Wang also thinks it makes sense.

King Yu knew very well that his younger brother had coveted that position for a long time, and he kept a close eye on the troubles in his place.

When the two brothers did the same thing, most of the officials would turn a blind eye to it, because in their view, King Jing was going to surrender and leave the capital in the future, so there was no need to file a complaint with his father.

Well, after leaving Lu's mansion, King Yu's sedan chair went around the capital again. Through the curtain of the sedan chair, he saw the bustling street market in the capital, crowded with people and busy traffic, and also saw the majestic palace city in the center of the city. The city wall, where he was born.

It was rare for King Yu to go to the mansion once, and he called Gao Gong to ask if he could visit someone's house, and bought some gifts in the street market.

Gao Gong rubbed his bearded chin, and after thinking about it, he said, "Why don't you go to Guangde, his house has a big yard, and we, the officials of the palace, rent houses outside, so it would be a bit difficult for His Highness to go there."

"Oh, is Guangde's house very big?"

When King Yu heard what Gao Gong said, he immediately became interested.

He didn't think about Wei Guangde's corruption. He knew Wei Guangde's every move since he became an official.

Thinking about myself, it seems to be the same as him.

The so-called Prince Yu's Mansion is not the property of the ancestors. It is the mansion built by Emperor Chengzu for the residence of future princes.

The princes who lived here were either very lucky to move into the Forbidden City, but most of them left the capital and went to their own fiefs, and it was difficult to return to the capital in the future.

"Guangde's house has two front and back entrances, which is definitely not as good as those three-entry courtyards, but his area is not small, and the location is very good. It is in Nanxunfang, not far from the palace."

Gao Gong saw that King Yu seemed to be moved, and he sighed in his heart. After being the prince of King Yu for so many years, he really hasn't been to the minister's mansion a few times. The previous few times he went there by order, on behalf of the emperor. Not at all comfortable.

In fact, the king of King Jing is similar. He usually does not visit official mansions, but builds other courtyards outside to communicate with other people.

"Then go there, by the way, where did Guangde go?"

King Yu said happily.

"Guangde has gone back to the Hanlin Academy. I'll send someone to send him a letter. Let's walk around the market and buy some gifts."

Gao Gong saw that King Yu was very interested, so he spoke.

Report a letter to Wei Guangde, let him make preparations, and let Yu Wang walk around the streets of the capital by the way.

For the future monarch, it is also very important to understand the people's sentiments.

The Beijing city of this era is undoubtedly the largest city in the world during this era, bar none.

The three largest cities in Europe during this period were Paris, Naples and Venice, with a population of about 15. Other cities with a population of more than 10 were located by the sea, by the river, or in trade centers. They were Seville and Genoa. , Milan.

The populations of other European cities that are well-known to Chinese people in later generations, such as Cologne, Pisa, Montpellier, Florence, Barcelona and Valencia, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Antwerp and Brussels, are much smaller, mostly only 3, The scale of 5 people.

Even London, the largest city in England at that time, had a population of less than 5, and there were very few other cities on the three islands with a population of more than 1.

In the whole of Europe, it is estimated that the total population is about 7 million people.

What was the big European city like at that time?
Walking along the muddy path, walking out of the forest, the first thing you see is the cold city walls and turrets.

Looking out from the turret, you can see the triangular roofs of rich people's homes and the spiers of small churches, but they are much eclipsed by many cathedrals.

In the city wall, there may be one or two relatively spacious roads, and then there are only winding alleys. Most of the alleys are low flat houses on both sides, which are the residences of residents.

During this period, Europe was gradually moving from ignorance to a civilized society. The discovery of new sea routes and new continents brought about the "Great Discovery Age" and promoted the unprecedented development of European economy and trade.

The exploration of the unknown, the search for new territories and riches, the search for spices and the improvement of navigation promoted the development of Europe.

Huge wealth also promoted the development of culture. The culture that was once highly prosperous in the Greek and Roman classical eras experienced the decline and annihilation of the "Dark Ages" in the Middle Ages. It was not until this period that they were "reborn" and "rejuvenated".

And what did the city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty look like at this time?

The city of Beijing built in the early Ming Dynasty was 670 meters wide from east to west, 310 meters deep from north to south, and had an area of ​​540 million square meters.

The main and secondary arterial roads in the city form a vertically long rectangular street network, within which are blocks, and within blocks are horizontal alleys.

A few years ago, the imperial court finally decided to build the outer city of Beijing. It was originally planned to build the outer city on all sides, with a total length of more than [-] miles. The rectangular shape at the time of construction developed into a convex-shaped plan with an outer city on the south.

What is the population of Beijing?

Beijing Bianfangpu Baojia, "regardless of Qiwan, lords, Beijing officials, internal and external squires, supervisors and students, and aboriginal residences", a total of 525 shops, 15119 Jia, 13.4 registered households, 5 people per household, about 67 Ten thousand people, counting the court ladies and eunuchs in the imperial city, as well as the underreported ones, more than 70 should not be much different.

Such a big city naturally made King Yu dazzled and dizzy. He soon forgot about going to Wei Guangde's house, and kept urging the bearers to rush to the bustling market.