Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 572
"Beep-"

"alert!"

On October 25th, Nanjing North Railway Station...

When the iron whistle used by the army sounded, the vast Nanjing North Railway Station had been taken over by the three battalions of Shangzhi Jiangning Camp, Shangyuan Camp and Yingtian Camp stationed in Nanjing City.

In addition to these three battalions of soldiers and horses, Zhang Jianyan, the military envoy of Nanzhili, also led [-] soldiers and horses from Nanjing to arrive.

Fan Fucui, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs of Nanjing, also led [-] yamen servants, and Qianhu of Nanjing Jinyiwei also led thousands of Jinyiwei to arrive.

Of course, apart from the soldiers and horses, nearly a thousand Beijing officials and more than 300 eunuchs who stayed behind in Nanjing came to greet them.

For a time, more than 6000 people gathered in the entire Nanjing North Railway Station, and the one they wanted to greet was naturally Zhu Youxiao, who was the emperor.

Standing in the train station, the six ministers who stayed behind were waiting anxiously.

As a dynasty that implemented the two-capital system in the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing did not have three provincial-level administrative agencies, including the Chief Secretary, the Inspection Division, and the Nanjing Metropolitan Division.

After the emergence of Northern Zhili, many functions of Southern Zhili have not been abolished or disappeared, and the four states and fourteen prefectures within the jurisdiction are still directly under the central administration of Southern Zhili.

Therefore, Nanjing also has a central agency, and this agency is actually only half the size of Beijing.

In addition to the lack of a cabinet and the governor's office of the five armies and the emperor, even the six ministries have been reduced.

For example, although there are Shangshu in Liubu, there are basically only right servants, not left servants.

The Metropolitan Procuratorate also only has the Yushi of Youdu, the Yushi of Youdu, and the Yushi of Youqiandu, and there is no corresponding Yushi of Zuodu, Zuofudu, and Zuoqiandu.

Although the administrative team has been cut in half, the officials of the Nanjing Yamen are not as imagined, drinking tea and basking in the sun every day.

Some Nanjing left-behind yamen with great status and authority are actually responsible for the tasks of the entire south of the Yangtze River and even the entire country.

Among them, for example, Taipu Temple in Nanjing is responsible for the breeding of horses in Jianghuai and Jiangnan, the Nanjing Household Department is in charge of tax collection in several provinces in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Yellow Book Library on Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing is still the yellow book of the whole country after the Ming Dynasty moved the capital. storage place.

The left-behind yamen in Nanjing, including but not limited to Nanjing Zongren Mansion, Six Ministries, Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate, General Administration Department, Dali Temple, Zhan Shifu, Imperial Academy, Guozijian, Taichang Temple, Taipu Temple, Guanglu Temple, Honghe Temple, Shangbao Division, Liuke Division, Pedestrian Division, Qin Tianjian, Wucheng Bingma Division and other yamen.

The Nanjing Clan Mansion was merged into the Beijing Clan Mansion by Zhu Youjian in the tenth year of Tianqi. The original two Beijing Clan Mansions were basically useless, and the powers were almost completely handed over to the Ministry of Rites.

However, after the merger with Zhu Youjian in the tenth year of Tianqi, a series of official positions in the clan's mansion have been changed.

In the past, the Prince Qin's Mansion was the Zongzheng of the Zhu family that had remained unchanged for thousands of years, but now the clan Ling became the prince Zhu Ciran, Zuo Zongzheng was the Qi King Zhu Youjian, and You Zongzheng was the Zhou King Zhu Suqin.

The reason for such a change is that the current Daming is different from before.

Except for Europe and Oceania, there are vassal kings of Ming Dynasty on every continent, and if Zongling is given to the vassal kings again, it is inevitable that some vassal kings will attack other vassal states under the banner of teaching unworthy descendants.

Since the emperor cannot hold an official position, Zhu Ciran, as the crown prince, naturally has to be the patriarchal order, and Qi and Zhou, the most powerful among the feudal vassals, naturally have to be the right and left Zongzheng.

In addition to these three official positions, other official positions are also appointed according to the strength of the vassal state.

There have been changes in the clan's mansion, and other yamen are no exception, and among them, the Nanjing Six Departments, which originally had real power, were even revised by Zhu Youjian.

The original Nanjing Ministry of Officials was mainly responsible for the management of the transfer of civil servants in southern Zhili and nine southern provinces, and inspected their responsibilities, but only needed to report the results to the Beijing Ministry of Officials.

However, due to the joining of the three southern provinces including Luchuan, Jiaozhi, and Jiugang, Zhu Youjian chose to directly abolish the functions of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials for these twelve provinces, but only retained the management functions of Nanzhili.

After the Ministry of Officials, the Ministry of Household Affairs in Nanjing, which manages the financial power in the south, naturally could not escape.

The former Nanjing Household Department was mainly responsible for distributing the salaries of officials in the southern provinces of Beijing and Jiuzhou, taking charge of Nanjing’s grain storage, and the inspection, guarding, storage, transportation, loss and other matters of each granary. one serving.

In addition, the Nanjing Household Department was also responsible for the storage of food for various guards in Nanjing, as well as the distribution of salaries for Nanjing officials, soldiers and artisans.

As for the national yellow book, it is also managed by the Nanjing Household Department, and it is placed in the yellow book library of Xuanwu Lake in Nanjing.

As early as the end of the Huaibei Great Famine in the second year of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youjian sent Li Changgeng here to serve as the Secretary of the Nanjing Household Department, which is enough to illustrate the importance of this position.

Therefore, in order to further bring financial power back to the central government, Zhu Youjian also abolished all the powers of the Nanjing Household Department except Nanzhili.

Among the six ministries, the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of War were also changed. The Ministry of Rites was only responsible for worshiping Ming Xiaoling Tomb and Fengyang Imperial Tomb in the central capital. The Ministry of War no longer had military affairs, horse administration, shipping administration, and local military affairs in the southern provinces. Only Nanzhili The soldiers and horses are for their mobilization.

Excluding these yamen, the remaining yamen such as the Ministry of Punishment, the Ministry of Industry, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Secretary, Dali Temple, Zhan Shifu, the Imperial Academy, the Imperial College, the Sixth Division, the Pedestrian Division, the Qintian Supervisor, and the Wucheng Bingma Division are not Those who are cut are cut, and those who are cut are cut.

Yamen such as Zhanshifu, Hanlin Academy, Guozijian, Taichang Temple, Taipu Temple, Guanglu Temple, Honglu Temple, Shangbaosi, Liuke, Xingrensi, and Qintianjian were all directly abolished.

It can be said that after ten years of means by Zhu Youjian Tianqi, Nanjing's authority was basically limited to Nanzhili, which is Nanjing at a good level, and Jiangnan Province at a bad level.

The powers were cut, and the remaining six ministers and various yamen were naturally unwilling, but they did not dare to oppose Zhu Youjian, so they could only endure in silence.

Fortunately, they didn't have to wait too long. As the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway was about to be completed, the emperor finally chose to go south, fortunately to Nanjing.

Regarding this matter, many officials wanted to behave well, and even wanted the emperor to stay in Nanjing to enhance the power of the six departments in Nanjing.

However, they wanted the emperor to stay in Nanjing, but some did not.

Among other things, the nobles and gentry landlords in the south of the Yangtze River do not want the emperor to stay in Nanjing for a long time. After all, for them who are used to the sky high and the emperor far away, and who have done too many dirty things, no one wants to press their heads With an emperor who will discover their secret at any time.

Although their secrets have long been discovered by Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian has already started to deal with them, but after all, how many days can they survive.

Therefore, under the conflict of interests between Nanjing officials and the gentry, no one dared to relax their vigilance, for fear that the gentry in Jiangnan would make a big news.

"Woooo-"

"I'm coming!"

Hearing the piercing siren, everyone knew that the emperor was coming, so they waited in full force for fear of any mistakes.

As they breathed nervously, a black train gradually entered Nanjing North Station, and it was not the emperor who got off the train first, but the Jinyiwei and Yiluanwei who were on the train.

The appearance of Jin Yiwei disappointed many officials waiting on the platform, but then they cheered up again.

After more than 900 Jinyiwei and Yiluan guards got off the train, the train drove away immediately.

After about 10 minutes, a train drove into Nanjing North Station again, but this time it was still Jinyiwei and Yiluanwei who got off.

This was repeated two more times, until the fifth train stopped, and Fan Fucui, headed by Wei Guogong Xu Hongji and Hubu Shangshu, saw Zhu Youxiao in a yellow round collar robe.

Maybe it was because of the exhaustion of the boat and the car, or because he played too much with wood a while ago, in short, Zhu Youxiao was a little thinner than before.

His height of less than five feet and five inches, combined with a weight of 130 kilograms, is a bit thick, but it also adds a sense of mastery.

"Chen Fan Fucui (Xu Hongji), respectfully invite Shengan..."

"Zhen'an, get up!" Zhu Youxiao didn't step forward to help anyone, after all, there was no one here who needed his help.

In terms of his "achievements", it is not an exaggeration to say that he far surpassed Qin Huang, Han Wu, Tang Zong and Song Zu. After all, the territory of the Apocalypse Dynasty is larger than the combined territory of Qin, Han, Tang and Song Dynasties.

He casually walked out of the train station, and Xu Hongji, Fan Fucui and others also got up and began to follow his footsteps.

A group of people got out of the train station under the guard battalion of [-] soldiers and horses, and Zhu Youxiao also boarded the large body that had been prepared outside the train station.

Nanjing North Railway Station is actually the same size as Nanjing East Railway Station and Nanjing South Railway Station, and the common people also knew that the emperor will visit Nanjing today, so they waited around the square early.

When Da Ren and [-] soldiers, horses, and yamen servants started to move, many people in Nanjing began to watch.

As a city of Nanjing with a population of more than 170 million, if there were any extra spectators, the number would be no less than tens of thousands.

The dense crowd went from Nanjing North Railway Station to Guanyin Gate, the north gate of the outer city wall, and Zhu Youxiao was also looking at the scene outside the glass window in the car.

He had never experienced the scene of the sea of ​​people before, and only when he got here did he realize why those heroes like to parade with great fanfare, because this kind of feeling seems to be patrolling their own world every day, accepting the surrender of all people.

"What is the population of Nanjing City? Just the people who came out to watch, probably not less than [-]?"

On the big board, Zhu Youxiao asked, and Wei Zhongxian, who had made preparations early, flattered: "Long live back, according to the report from the Ministry of Households last month, the population of Nanjing is about 170 million."

"So many? More than the capital..."

Hearing this number, even Zhu Youxiao couldn't help being speechless, but he didn't find it surprising. After all, Nanjing covers an area of ​​more than 37 mu.

If it were more crowded, it would be enough to accommodate 700 million people.

However, the premise of this population is to use the 10,000+ mu of cultivated land and woodland in the outer city to build houses.

"How much arable land is there in Nanjing?" After Zhu Youxiao heard the population, he felt that the arable land in Nanjing might be reduced.

"About 12 mu..."

As he expected, Wei Zhongxian's answer also explained how the growing population lived within the city of Nanjing.

Since the architecture of the Ming Dynasty emphasizes the unity of man and nature, high-rise buildings do not apply to the living concept of ordinary people.

The two-story courtyard already made them feel depressed, and most people chose the one-story courtyard.

This kind of land covers a large area and the living space is not large, but Daming itself is also sparsely populated.

The population growth rate is so fast, if the architectural style is not changed, the expansion of Nanjing City is necessary.

For Zhu Youxiao, he has never seen any high-rise buildings, and he does not want to build any high-rise buildings.

He felt that his younger brother's success in Beijing's Dongcheng and Xicheng would be pretty good.

Therefore, after learning that the population of Nanjing City is so large, he rolled his eyes and immediately said righteously:

"The place where the people of Nanjing live is too small, and the original outer city wall is mainly made of hills and embankments, which is not enough to protect the people at all."

"Leave it to Zhang Yandeng, Shangshu of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry!"

Zhu Youxiao waved his hand, and soon Zhang Yandeng, Minister of the Ministry of Industry, appeared on the big board.

"Minister Zhang Yandeng, Shangshu of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, see Long Live..."

Zhang Yandeng saluted respectfully, and he already knew that the emperor would summon him.

However, what he was thinking about was discussing the repair of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, but Zhu Youxiao was not thinking about this issue.

"The outer city walls of Nanjing City are no longer applicable. During the 17 years of the Kingdom, the population of Nanjing has increased so much."

"Today, I order you to take people outside Kanyu City, and calculate how much manpower and material resources will be required to expand Gaozi Town, Jurong County, Moling Pass, and Jiangning Town if the outer city walls are constructed with cement?"

"Er...er..." Hearing the emperor's words, Zhang Yandeng almost didn't come up.

The construction of the outer city wall doesn't actually cost too much money, but the circle that can't support Zhu You's school circle is a bit big.

If it is really encircled according to what he said, then half of Yingtian Mansion will be encircled into Nanjing City, and the outer city will at least be expanded from the current one hundred miles to about three hundred miles.

In this way, the city of Nanjing must occupy an area of ​​at least 130 million mu, and after enclosing so many towns, the population will exceed 200 million.

If so many places are really enclosed in Nanjing City, I am afraid that Zhang Yandeng will be stabbed to death on the street the next day.

That circle is not the land, it is the life of the gentry of Yingtian Mansion...

Thinking of this, Zhang Yandeng said with shame:
"Long live, the merger of so many places into Nanjing City is not conducive to management, and it will also make many people displaced."

"Besides, the current imperial court is short of gold and silver, and the artillery is sharp. It is possible to expand the outer city walls, but there is no need to expand it so much."

"Why don't we go northeast to Longtan County on the basis of the original, and then go south along Tangshan Mountain to reach Moling Pass, surround Jiangjun Mountain, Niushou Mountain, and then reach Dasheng Pass?"

"In this way, the outer city wall can be expanded to two hundred miles, covering an area of ​​more than [-] mu."

Zhang Yandeng didn't want to offend the emperor, let alone the gentry, so he could only persuade the emperor to be smaller.

"That's not bad..." Hearing Zhang Yandeng's words, Zhu Youxiao naturally knew that he was afraid of offending the honorable gentry of Yingtian Mansion, so he smiled and stopped pressing.

"Let's do the math and see how much money is needed after the expansion."

After Zhu Youxiao finished speaking, he waved his hand to signal Zhang Yandeng to back down.

Zhang Yandeng had no choice but to step back from the big body with sweat on his head, and returned to his carriage not long after.

After he left, Yu Jia also arrived at Guanyin Gate.

After entering the Guanyin Gate, the scene of the outer city of Nanjing is similar to that described in Zhu Ciran's travel notes. There are basically no farmlands at the city gates, and only rows of houses and streets built over the years can be seen.

No pedestrian dares to cross the clean and orderly road, because in the new "Law of the Ming Dynasty" formulated by Zhu Youjian, if you don't walk on the sidewalk, you have to be taken to the garbage dump outside the city to work for ten days.

Although the garbage in this era is basically fruit peels, confetti, rags and civil engineering, but cleaning up the garbage dump for ten days is equivalent to preventing a person from going to work.

After ten days, I earn at least three hundred wen less, and I have to provide my own meals, and I need a hundred wen if I eat poorly.

After this, the four hundred texts disappeared in an instant, and no one dared to know the law and break the law.

What's more, the sidewalks in the outer city walls are very wide, a full ten feet in length, so that the roads can be expanded in the future.

Zhu Youxiao looked at the endlessly crowded sidewalk outside the window, and couldn't help saying, "This Nanjing city is much more lively than the capital city."

"However, in my opinion, the city of Nanjing probably has more than 1703 million people."

Zhu Youxiao’s statement is well-founded, because a package of 73 people is the registered population of Nanjing, and does not include the migrant workers in Yingtianfu and Jiangnan.

Therefore, it is said that there are only 170 million people, but the actual number may already be no less than 200 million.

With a population of no less than 200 million, it is unavoidable to say that it is the largest city since the Middle Ages.

You must know that the population of the United Kingdom at this time is only 400 million, and one city of Nanjing is equal to half of the United Kingdom.

Moreover, in terms of prosperity, Nanjing's prosperity can be regarded as the world's best. From the end of September last year to the end of September this year, the city of Nanjing has paid more than 140 million taels of tax indirectly and directly for the imperial store and Yingtianfu Yamen.

With Daming's land tax and business tax totaling only 7000 million taels, a single city of Nanjing accounted for 2% of Daming's fiscal revenue.

And this is only the second year after the train passed through Nanjing. After the railway from Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture to Chengdu County, Chengdu Prefecture, Sichuan Province is completed, I am afraid that Nanjing will go to a higher level.

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao's desire to expand the outer city wall was not a whim, but a judgment based on the actual situation.

When Zhu Youxiao thought so, Yujia also arrived at Zijin Mountain, and compared to his inconspicuous older son, Zhu Youxiao had prepared all kinds of sacrificial supplies needed for the sacrifice.

After briefly offering sacrifices to Emperor Gao, the great ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youxiao and Zhu Ciran took the same route to the Nanjing Imperial Palace.

As soon as he entered the Nanjing Imperial Palace, he saw many collapsed palaces.

However, unlike Zhu Ciran's enthusiasm, Zhu Youxiao smiled very happily, because the more collapsed, the more places he needed to build.

Thinking of this, he also got off the imperial car and started walking around the Nanjing Imperial Palace.

It has to be said that due to the tight finances after the Jiajing Dynasty, except for the small-scale repairs of the Nanjing Palace during the reign of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, the Ming Dynasty can only be said to be patchwork at other times.

Since Nanjing City can only withhold 3000% of the tax, the available tax money is very limited. At most [-] taels per year is to keep the palaces that have not collapsed from collapsing.

Zhu Youxiao walked around in a big circle, and he didn't stop until it was getting late, and said to Zhang Yandeng, who had almost collapsed from walking behind:

"It doesn't take 500 million taels to repair here, but 400 million taels is enough."

After all, he is an expert, and Zhu Youxiao saw the tricks of the people below at a glance, so he proposed a price that was closer to the real situation.

Zhang Yandeng also broke out in cold sweat when he heard the words, but Zhu Youxiao didn't bother to blame him, but said to Wei Zhongxian who was already suffering beside him:
"My friend, you can go to the household department to pay the money some other day, and then write back to the capital, saying that the Nanjing Imperial Palace will take at least one and a half years to complete the repairs, and let the crown prince and King Qi take good care of the country."

When Zhu Youxiao said this, his face was not red and his heart was beating, and Fan Fucui, the minister of household affairs next to him, couldn't help being speechless.

In the case of sufficient silver, it would take at most one year to repair the Nanjing Imperial Palace, and the emperor opened his mouth for a year and a half, obviously wanting to spend more time in Jiangnan.

It doesn't matter to him, Fan Fucui, but the gentry and powerful people in the south of the Yangtze River may not be able to sleep after hearing the news.

"The servants take orders..."

Wei Zhongxian responded with a smile uglier than crying. After Zhu Youxiao saw this smile, he thought he didn't want to live in Nanjing permanently, so he comforted him:
"If you feel that you can't leave your hometown, then go back after these two months of work."

"No, no, no! Long live, the servant can always be with him, how can he feel that he can't leave his hometown? Long live, you are the master of the servant. Wherever you are, that is the home of the servant."

"The servant girl just feels that the prince will be a little tired after coming out for so long."

Wei Zhongxian quickly explained, but at the same time he couldn't help but cry from the bottom of his heart.

Why did he feel that he couldn't leave home? He felt distressed when Zhu Youxiao chopped off 100 million taels of expenses.

Of the 100 million taels, no less than 50 taels should have been his silver...

Thinking of this, Wei Zhongxian wanted to cry even more.

Zhu Youxiao didn't think too much when he heard the words. After patting him to show comfort, he looked at Wei Guogong Xu Hongji who had been following him:
"Wei Guogong and everyone are tired after following for so long, let's come here first today, if there is anything to talk about tomorrow."

"The ministers and others ordered..."

Seeing that the emperor was about to rest, Xu Hongji and the others did not force him to stay. To put it bluntly, they were just here to feel their presence.

Everyone knows that when it comes to matters that require benefits, what the emperor Zhu Youxiao says often doesn't count, or he doesn't want to count.

In the words of Beijing Xungui, the emperor is as slippery as a loach. When he needs to take responsibility, he will push it to the officials below.

The nobles in the capital have long been accustomed to the emperor's rhetoric, and they know that to go to King Qi is to scold him.

King Qi doesn't care about the merits of their ancestors, and what the nobles want is that the lords can pass it on.

But if this kind of topic is brought up, the king of Qi will often say: "If you need to continue the title, you will go to the battlefield. Talking alone is not counted!"

One sentence blocked what the nobles wanted to say. In the long run, the nobles in Beijing can only focus on cultivating their children and grandchildren.

Those who can't be trained will be handed over to the official school for training, and later on, most of the nobles feel that they are not as good as the official school, so it has become normal for the honorables to send their children to the official school.

As for the emperor... the nobles have long since stopped counting on him to be the master...

　The meeting was even later.

　　The afternoon update is estimated to be around four o'clock.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)