Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 561
"Woooo-"

"The car is coming! The car is coming!"

In late February, shortly after Zhu Youjian left Xining, with the sound of the train whistle, Zhu Ciran, who visited various places in Ming Dynasty, also successfully arrived in Nanjing from Hangzhou with stops and stops.

They passed through Huzhou, Jiaxing, Suzhou, and Changzhou along the way, and almost walked through the most prosperous places in Ming Dynasty.

Almost half of the local population is hidden, and the people who built the railway are also mighty.

Since he already had a general understanding of the situation in the south of the Yangtze River, Zhu Ciran did not enter these cities to rest, but just took a look around.

However, when he came to Nanjing, this city was the place he had to enter.

Nanjing, known as Jinling in ancient times, has been a prosperous and prosperous place since the ancient Jin Dynasty. Even in later generations, it is also an important city in the Yangtze River Delta economic belt.

In the eyes of ancient literati and inkmen, this is a land of beautiful articles, gentle and rich.

In the eyes of the rulers, commerce and trade are developed here, and economic prosperity is an important place to pay taxes, so there is a saying that "the wealth of the world comes from the southeast, and Jinling is its meeting".

In the middle and late Ming Dynasty, due to the development of the commodity economy, capitalism sprouted in the south of the Yangtze River, and all of this was inseparable from the contribution of Nanjing, a prosperous commercial city.

In the 17th year of the Apocalypse, even though the northern land was corrupted by natural disasters, the city of Nanjing was still prosperous, which made many people feel sorry for Emperor Chongzhen.

Back then, as the Ming Dynasty with the two-capital system, many people in later generations wondered if Emperor Chongzhen could escape to Nanjing City before the city of Beijing was destroyed, relying on the financial resources of the south of the Yangtze River, whether it was possible to make a comeback.

Although this idea is not realistic, it is enough to show how prosperous the business of Nanjing City was in the late Ming Dynasty.

For example, when Zhu Ciran and the others passed by the "Beijing-Hangzhou Railway" Nanjing Chengdong Station, the people and merchants who took the train here were overwhelming.

As the hub of the Ming Dynasty controlling the southeast, the North Station and the East Station of Nanjing City respectively cover an area of ​​61 acres, about 4000 square meters, and have set up 34 platforms and [-] lines. The annual passenger volume can reach More than [-] million people.

The reason why the building is so large is mainly because the population of Nanjing successfully broke through to 16 million in the 160th year of Tianqi.

"Such a large railway station can be squeezed like this, how many people must there be in this city of Nanjing..."

At the gate of the train station, Zhu Ciran was sitting on a four-wheeled cart, looking at tens of thousands of people sitting on chairs in the square, it was hard for Zhu Ciran to imagine how crowded the station would be when the square was like this.

Facing his question, Liu Shun answered after thinking a little:
"I remember that in June of the 16th year of Tianqi, the Ministry of Household Affairs reported that the population of Nanjing City exceeded 160 million, and it must be even more now."

"160 million..." Zhu Ciran couldn't help being speechless when he heard that the population of Nanjing was more than 30 more than that of Beijing.

Population in such an era represents the prosperity of a place, and almost from the time when Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty and established Nanjing as his capital, Nanjing has been the most populous city in Ming Dynasty.

In the 26 years of Hongwu alone, the population of Nanjing reached 70.

After Emperor Yongle ascended the throne, he planned to move the capital. Even though he took away 10,000+ merchants and handicraftsmen when he moved the capital to Beijing, the population of Nanjing City dropped to more than [-] and lost its former prosperity.

However, after all, Nanjing City has a siphon effect on the entire Jiangnan area. Therefore, during the Chenghua period, with the influx of a large number of people, Nanjing began to restore its former prosperity.

Due to the severe land annexation in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, many farmers who lost their land could only go to the city to find a way out, which caused the population of Nanjing to skyrocket.

The soaring population also brought a large number of labor and consumer markets, which made Nanjing's economy take off and accelerated the progress of urbanization in the south of the Yangtze River. This is why later generations said that capitalism sprouted in the south of the Yangtze River in the Ming Dynasty.

During the Wanli period, some people said that the population of Nanjing had reached 120 million.

The reason why it cannot continue to grow is because the city and the technological level of this era have limited Nanjing City, making it unable to support more people.

However, with Zhu Youjian's military operations and the opening up of overseas provinces, a steady stream of overseas food began to flow into the south of the Yangtze River, and the population of Nanjing City began to grow again.

The current population of tens of thousands is just the aftermath of the influx of overseas food. With the construction and completion of the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway and the Songchuan Railway, the population of Nanjing City may usher in an explosion.

Zhu Ciran and the others took a look at the scene of the train station, and then rode their bicycles into the city of Nanjing from the Crane Gate in the outer city of Nanjing.

As the heir apparent and future emperor of the Ming Dynasty, the first thing Zhu Ciran did when he came to Nanjing was, of course, to represent his father and uncle to the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty to pay homage to Emperor Gao, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the city of Nanjing is developing too fast. The outer city, which still had a large area of ​​cultivated land during the Wanli period, is now a purely commercial city with criss-crossed streets and shops everywhere.

Entering Nanjing City from Xianhe Gate, even if it is only the outer city, the various economic activities in the city are dizzying.

Cycling on the street, Zhu Ciran can see all kinds of shops, and the street is full of people.

There does not seem to be a lock for the phrase "peers are enemies" here, because shops of the same type are often clustered together.

Snack Street, Clothing Street, Shoes and Hats Street, Flower Street, Book Street, Theater Street...

Shops are gathered together in streets, which shows that the division of commercial areas in Nanjing City is still very clear.

These houses are built almost along the street, with shops selling goods in front and workshops for making goods in the back.

Generally speaking, the merchants in Nanjing City are craftsmen themselves, and they usually sell while making.

Of course, the influx of people and the unlimited development of shops are not all good. With more and more people in the city, social security has become a huge problem...

"Grab something! Catch the thief!"

Not long after entering the city, when Zhu Ciran and the others were still looking around on the driveway, the sound of catching a thief came from the right rear.

They hurriedly stopped to look, only to see two yamen servants and a rich businessman in silk chasing a strong man.

Such scenes also happen in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Kunming, and Xi'an. Generally, when the cry of "catch the thief" is uttered, the local people will help arrest them.

But in Nanjing City, the accompanying capital of Ming Dynasty, when such slogans were chanted, the pedestrians around were afraid to avoid it and stepped aside.

Seeing this, Liu Shun picked up the slingshot and stones he made at leisure and aimed at the thief's head.

Since the thief was running in their direction, the thief was caught off guard by a stone, staggered and fell to the ground, and was pinned down by two yamen servants who followed.

"Go, go, don't cause trouble."

Seeing the thief being caught, Zhu Ciran urged Liu Shun to leave here by bicycle, obviously not wanting to be entangled by the government servants.

Under Zhu Ciran's urging, the four left the street by bicycle.

However, as they continued to go deeper into Nanjing City, more and more merchants followed suit on the sidewalks on both sides of the driveway, which shows that the further they went, the more prosperous they became.

The roads in Nanjing City are not wide, at least not wide compared to his identity as the accompanying capital.

The main reason for this is that since the capital was moved from the Ming Dynasty, merchants and common people continued to build houses on both sides of the street, making the originally spacious roads narrow and congested.

The congestion of the roads caused the rivers that originally passed through the city to start to "block boats". Even if the Tianqi Ministry of Industry came to demolish and relocate in ten years, the widening of the roads also encountered considerable obstacles.

Therefore, the roads in the outer city were not built larger than those in the outer city of Beijing, but were only less than 28 feet long.

Eighty feet are left and right sidewalks, and twenty feet are left and right vehicle roads. Although it is already a bit wide, compared to the population of Nanjing City, it still seems a bit crowded.

Not long after, Zhu Ciran and Liu Shun were blocked on the street five or six miles away from Xiaoling.

"You go to the palace by bicycle, and Liu Shun and I will go to Xiaoling first on foot."

Unable to stand the traffic jam, Zhu Ciran ordered the two skinny Jin Yiwei in the back row, and then got out of the car with Liu Shun in front of them.

The two of them crossed the driveway and came to the sidewalk, and asked for directions along the way, taking the alley to Xiaoling.

For Zhu Ciran, cycling and walking are two completely different pleasures.

Cycling can only take a quick look at the flowers and is suitable for enjoying the wild scenery, but walking is more suitable for enjoying the city scenery.

During the walk, Zhu Ciran discovered that in addition to the numerous shops in Nanjing, some markets were also very prosperous.

He walked into a small market, the environment inside was a bit messy, like a vegetable market, and most of the merchants in the market were farmers who had entered the city.

They sit in the open space, sell or exchange the agricultural products in their hands, and then get the commodities they need to take back.

Due to the developed commodity trade, the city of Nanjing attracted a large number of foreign businessmen.

Here, Zhu Ciran and the others can hear the accents of Shanxi, Sichuan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Fujian, Huguang and other places.

This group of foreign merchants bought goods at low prices from here, and then took the train with them to sell them at high prices elsewhere.

Of course, some of them will also bring goods from other places for sale, which also makes the variety of goods in the market dazzling.

Zhu Ciran wandered around casually, bought a few sesame seed cakes and two catties of paper money that his ancestors liked to eat, and rushed towards Xiaoling with the paper money.

Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum is located at the foot of Zijin Mountain in Nanjing City. It is the mausoleum of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Xiaoci Gao.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang practiced filial piety to govern the world, this place was named "Xiaoling".

Covering an area of ​​more than [-] mu, it can be regarded as one of the largest imperial tombs in history.

In the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum has always been the root of the ancestors and is highly respected. There are three fixed sacrifices and five minor sacrifices every year. Whenever there are major events in the country, ministers and ministers must be sent to pay respects.

However, since the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, except for the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao who came to worship in person, in the 260 years of the Ming Dynasty, there were only less than 70 years when the emperor personally worshiped.

It is very rare for Zhu Ciran to come to worship as a prince, so when they arrived at Xiaoling and showed their East Palace badges, the Xiaoling Weiyi who was stationed at Xiaoling was a little restless for a while.

Xiaoling Guard is considered one of the few guards that Zhu Youjian did not abolish, but four years after the apocalypse, he still turned Xiaoling Guard into a professional army, and moved their families to the Zhenjiang area to cultivate fields.

The Xiaoling Mausoleum of the hereditary system guards the mausoleum all the year round, but there has never been a case of self-stealing.

After entering the Xiaoling Mausoleum, as soon as they entered, Zhu Ciran and the others saw a large piece of land with many plum blossoms planted on it.

These plum blossoms are some budding flowers, some are already blooming flowers, very bright, and exude a charming smell.

"Planting plum blossoms feels a bit wasteful. I guess according to the character of the ancestors, Xiaolingwei will definitely let the mountain be full of food and vegetables."

Carrying two catties of paper money and the sesame seed cakes he bought, Zhu Ciran smiled cheerfully, Liu Shun was ashamed to hear these words.

Thanks to this guy, he can figure out how to farm on top of his ancestors.

If the emperor and King Qi knew this, it would be strange if he didn't beat him to death.

Of course, Liu Shun himself didn't dare to complain, he could only take the Xiaoling guards and escort Zhu Ciran to move forward.

Soon they arrived at the Shinto of Xiaoling Mausoleum. There are two Shintos of Xiaoling Mausoleum in Ming Dynasty, one is called Shixiang Road Shinto, and the other is called Wengzhong Road Shinto.

There are six kinds of stone beasts in the Shinto of Stone Elephant Road, namely horse, unicorn, lion, elephant, camel and Xiezhi.

They are all carved out of a monolithic boulder, guarding Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma.

Weng Zhonglu Shinto has four civil officials and four military generals. The military generals wear armor and hold weapons with very fine patterns on them, while the civil officials are like scholars, very graceful.

Along the long corridor, Zhu Ciran and the others walked into the Civil and Military Square Gate. After taking a rest, a group of people came to the Inner Red Gate.

This inner red gate is also called the Yin-Yang Gate. Traditionally, this gate separates the yang world from the underworld.

Walking through the Shengxian Bridge of the inner red gate, they walked up from the arch in the middle of Fangcheng. There are 54 steps here.

The dark corridor made people feel very nervous, but Zhu Ciran continued to say cheerfully: "The place where our ancestors live is quite cool, and it is estimated that there is no need to put ice cubes in summer."

"Ancestor... you can take care of yourself..." Listening to Zhu Ciran's words getting more and more out of tune, if it wasn't for his identity, Liu Shun would definitely have sealed his chattering mouth.

However, because of Zhu Ciran's joke, Liu Shun and the others relaxed a little, and they climbed up to the Ming Tower smoothly under the guidance of Xiaoling's guards.

On the back of Minglou is Dulongfu, where the tombs of Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma are buried.

It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang likes deer very much. He thinks deer are very spiritual. He has raised many deer on Dulongfu. Each deer has a piece of jade hanging around its neck. No one can hurt them, but...

"Can these deer be called and eaten?"

"Uh...Your Highness...these deer can't eat..."

Zhu Ciran's words almost knocked the commander of the Xiaoling Guard who was leading the way out of control. He answered Zhu Ciran in a cold sweat, but Zhu Ciran asked back, "Even I can't do it?"

"Your Highness, even Long Live and King Qi are not allowed to fight, this is the rule set by the Taizu Emperor Gao..." Xiaoling Guard Commander Mei Chun said with embarrassment.

"Okay..." Hearing that he couldn't call to eat, Zhu Ciran actually showed a trace of regret in his eyes, which made Liu Shun grit his teeth.

Fortunately, it was over when they came here, and then Liu Shun accompanied Zhu Ciran to burn the two catties of paper money for Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma, and also presented the five sesame cakes worth only ten renminbi.

The Commander of the Xiaoling Guard, Mei Chun, couldn't help but feel desperate watching this scene. This is probably the cheapest sacrifice Zhu Yuanzhang has received since the founding of the Ming Dynasty in 260.

I don't know if Zhu Yuanzhang, who was underground, looked at the two catties of paper money and five sesame cakes, and thought that the Ming Dynasty was dead and his children and grandchildren couldn't even afford to eat.

"Okay! Let's go, let's go to the city."

After three simple kowtows, Zhu Ciran got up and motioned to leave, the way the commander came and went like the wind made the corners of Mei Chun's eyes twitch.

Zhu Ciran's performance was not as sincere as that of a soldier priest under Mei Chun.

But Mei Chun didn't dare to say anything, just sent Zhu Ciran and the others down the mountain, and then cursed behind their backs.

Xiaoling, who was regarded as the spiritual pillar by the Xiaoling Guard, was treated so contemptuously by Zhu Ciran, as the patriarch of the Mei family who had guarded Xiaoling in the Ming Dynasty for more than 200 years, it was strange that Mei Chun didn't scold him.

Mei Chun estimated that she would be so angry that she would not be able to sleep tonight, but Zhu Ciran went down the mountain cheerfully and wandered around the bustling inner city of Nanjing.

There are many merchants and handicraftsmen in Nanjing, so the catering service industry and entertainment industry will naturally be very developed.

Walking on the street under Zijin Mountain seems to be to enjoy the mountain scenery, so there are teahouses and restaurants everywhere, especially teahouses are very popular.

Scholars in the late Ming Dynasty once described the tea houses and restaurants in Nanjing City.

This is still something that happened in the Wanli period. By the 17th year of Tianqi, there may be no less than [-] teahouses and no less than [-] restaurants in Nanjing City.

Walking here, what Zhu Ciran heard the most were merchants discussing trains, "Da Ming Pao" and news about what was valuable in various places.

In addition, it is nothing more than the content of merchants discussing the group of Yangzhou lean horses on the Qinhuai River.

Zhu Ciran has no interest in Qinhuai River, he is a prince, there is no need to go to the so-called nobles.

If he really looks for it, don't look at Zhu Youxiao being fat, but when chasing someone and hitting him, he runs very fast.

"There's nothing to play, let's go back to the palace first, rest, let's go tomorrow."

Zhu Ciran has no plans to live in Nanjing for a long time. Although Nanjing is more prosperous than Beijing and the climate is much better, he still likes to stay in Beijing.

Hearing that Zhu Ciran stopped shopping, Liu Shun also heaved a sigh of relief, and then escorted him to the palace.

The Nanjing Imperial Palace is the blueprint of the Forbidden City in Beijing. It is much larger than the Forbidden City in Beijing in terms of size and area. It is the largest palace complex in the Middle Ages.

The entire palace was built from the Yuan Dynasty to the 26th year of Zhengzheng, and it was not basically completed until the 25th year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, which lasted 26 years.

Due to the invasion of Hulu, the Han people lost many traditions. Therefore, when building this palace, Zhu Yuanzhang built it according to the principle of "Zhou Zu You She, facing the future market" in "Zhou Li·Kao Gong Ji".

The circumference of the entire palace city is more than five and a half miles. On both sides from Hongwumen to Chengtianmen are the central government offices, and on both sides from Chengtianmen to Wumen are Taimiao and Sheji Altar.

The former dynasty centered on Fengtian Hall, Huagai Hall, and Jinshen Hall, with Wenhua Hall and Wenlou in the east, and Wuying Hall and Wulou in the west.

The Empress Court is centered on Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace, with Chunhe Palace in the east, Rouyi Hall, Fengxian Hall, Dashan Hall, Nine Five Flying Dragon Hall, and West Palace in the west, and East and West Six Palaces on both sides.

As far as the overall structure is concerned, except that the names of the three main halls are different from those of the Beijing Imperial Palace, everything else is basically the same.

However, to Zhu Ciran's disappointment, when he came to the Nanjing Palace, most of the palaces outside the palace had collapsed, and the Nanjing Taimiao had already been burned down by thunder and fire.

Looking at this scene, even the good-tempered Zhu Ciran couldn't help cursing: "What do the officials of the Ministry of Industry do? The palace is like this and won't be built?!"

"Your Highness calm down..."

Knowing that the prince is coming to Nanjing, the officials from the six departments in Nanjing have been waiting at Fengtianmen for a long time, so they are also prepared to be scolded.

Zhang Yandeng, Shangshu of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, came out with a face full of shame. He bowed and said:

"The Nanjing Ministry of Industry had already requested the imperial court to allocate money to repair the palace as early as the Jiajing period, but Emperor Sejong ignored it."

"Although Mr. Zhang Ge presided over the repair for a period of time during the Wanli period, it was suspended again after Mr. Zhang Ge passed away."

"In the early years of the Apocalypse, the Ministry of Industry once went to the shuffle, but Long Live also responded by saying that the war in the north was urgent and temporarily shelved it."

"This imperial palace is not because the Nanjing Ministry of Industry does not want to build it, but because there is no money to build it..."

Zhang Yandeng was very wronged, in order to appease Zhu Ciran, he could only say:
"Fortunately, the Nanjing government spends 3000 taels of silver every year for repairs, so the palace of the inner court is relatively clean and in good condition."

"..." Hearing Zhang Yandeng's words, Zhu Ciran felt uncomfortable.

He turned around and looked at some palaces and imperial temples that had collapsed, and thought that the train had been built through Nanjing. The future emperor could live in Beijing for the first half of each year and Nanjing for the second half of the year to control the south of the Yangtze River. So he thought about it before he said:

"Now that the train has been repaired, Father may come to Nanjing to rest at some point."

"Tomorrow, I will go to Emperor Shufu, and ask Father to allocate funds to repair the Nanjing Imperial Palace. You will send out a memorial for the repairs, and write it up and hand it to me within three days."

"I will return to Shuntian in the north in three days, and personally hand over the memorial to my father."

"The minister leads the decree..." Zhang Yandeng breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Zhu Ciran's words. At least Zhu Ciran knew that the problem was rooted in lack of money, rather than letting them figure out a solution.

Zhu Ciran's actions were seen by the other five ministers. They looked at each other, obviously thinking that Zhu Ciran was a good prince.

"Your Highness, the Chunhe Palace has been tidied up, you can go in and live there."

At a critical moment, a Jin Yiwei came to Zhu Ciran, bowed and told him that the Spring Harmony Palace, which was the East Palace, had been cleaned up.

Hearing this, Zhu Ciran also raised his hand and dismissed the six ministers, and led Liu Shun and others into the Chunhe Palace to the east of the Wenhua Palace.

Similar to Zhu Ciran's expectation, many palaces in the East Palace had collapsed or fell into disrepair.

Fortunately, the Nanjing Ministry of Industry also knew that the crown prince traveled south and would definitely come to Nanjing to worship his ancestors, so last year they had people repair the Yanzuo Hall, which is the main hall of the East Palace, otherwise Zhu Ciran was really afraid that the house would collapse when he fell asleep .

Full of anger, Zhu Ciran fell asleep without even eating.

But because of his words, Liubu Shangshu seemed to feel that he was about to usher in a second spring...

(End of this chapter)