For Zhu Youxiao, Nanjing is the central point of the trip.

This point is related to the natural and man-made disasters in the past 30 years after the second year of the Apocalypse, and whether this rich Jiangnan will contribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Even if it was a few million taels of tax silver every year, it was enough for him to survive those difficult days.

The big family Jiuchi Meat Forest, the tea tax in the south of the Yangtze River is three taels, and the tax is eighty taels, these strange situations that people can't believe are all from this.

On the way from Fengyang to Nanjing, Zhu Youxiao emphasized more than once that extravagance and waste were prohibited, all in view of the evil consequences of Qianlong's trip to the south of the Yangtze River in later generations.

Historically, Qianlong went down to the south of the Yangtze River and was extremely exquisite.

The royal road on land requires a width of three feet, the central road is six feet wide, and the road on both sides is seven feet each, and the road surface is required to be solid and smooth, and the royal road is also required to be straight.

In addition, all the stone bridges and stone slabs must be paved with loess, and the places where they pass through will be splashed with clear water.

When taking a boat by waterway, Qianlong's southern patrol fleet numbered more than 1,000 large and small ships, which were mighty and mighty, and the flags covered the sky, and there were 3,000 soldiers from the Laxian River.

During the southern tour, in addition to touring the mountains and rivers, a huge palace was built for Qianlong's accommodation.

For example, the palace of Tianning Temple, there are more than 500 houses with corridors, and various facilities such as living, listening to politics, and amusement are readily available.

There is also the Yangzhou Gaomin Temple Palace funded by Shandong salt merchants, there are three halls in the front, middle and back, including tea room, west matching room, painting room, west suite, bridge pavilion, stage, theater hall, gate pavilion, pavilion corridor room, rest mountain building, stone slab room, arrow hall, 10,000 character pavilion, lying tablet pavilion, rest mountain gate, right facing room, hanging flower door, back light room, etc.

Among them, there are hundreds of pavilions and pavilions, and the interior is even more magnificently arranged, and the treasures, flowers, trees, bamboo and stones, books, calligraphy and paintings, porcelain, incense burners, hanging screens, etc., offered by the officials and gentry along the way, are all displayed in it.

It was precisely because of Emperor Qianlong's extravagance and waste that the corrupt trend of local officials was fostered, and the original role of purging the rule of officials did not play a role, but instead accelerated the corruption of the local bureaucracy.

Zhu Youxiao came down this time to use the imperial power to break the existing local rules and replace some important departments with his own people.

Abolish the old rules that have been useless for many years.

Moreover, it is also to let the people really see the face and appearance of the Son of Heaven, so that they can see who is the master of the people, and who is the small generation who is afraid that the world will not be chaotic.

After Zhu Youxiao left Fengyang, he went all the way, not to say that he would go wherever he went, but to send special officials to go through it in advance, plan the route, and then report back.

Whenever you go to a place, you should also recruit local guides, survey the roads along the way, and make a plan for your trip.

It is precisely because of the time to prepare for the local officials to take over the car that Zhu Youxiao does not come down in a straight line, and often has to stay for a few days.

In the place where the emperor's royal drive will pass through in the patrol plan, officials at all levels naturally have to prepare in advance.

Although the Emperor of the Apocalypse was not allowed to offer gifts, such superficial work as building bridges and paving roads, cleaning rivers and canals, and cleaning the markets still had to be done.

The armament of the local guard post is slack, but this time, it is inevitable that it will have to be moved.

The hereditary generals had to put on dusty armor, reluctantly get up from the bed, gather their subordinates back as much as possible, distribute to them the armor and weapons piled up in the treasury, and start training again according to the pattern of the guild.

Those Haoqiang, after hearing about the "tragedy" in the Fengyang area, were so nervous that they immediately held small meetings in various prefectures, and the theme of the meeting was surprisingly consistent.

The major powerful families, all of them want their children, during the emperor's southern tour, try to keep a low profile, of course, it is naturally best to help the people do things or something.

The local government was also prepared, and for the bandits who were wanted but still escaped, they intensified their arrest during this period, trying to ensure that the emperor was arrested before he arrived in the local area, so as to ask for credit.

Government prisons in various localities have begun to purge prisoners from prisons, release those who are innocent as soon as possible, and punish those who are guilty.

The government yamen also stopped cutting the door, and distributed condolences and silver taels door-to-door, and laid porridge sheds at the local city gate to appease and give relief to the poor people.

Some officials, who usually do nothing, have to make decent rounds everywhere, repair dilapidated cities, and clean up farmland and canals.

Generally speaking, this time Zhu Youxiao came down, and the local situation was completely new.

A month and a half later, Zhu Youxiao, who had been going around in Shanxi, Henan and other places, came to the most important first place of the trip.

Nanking!

Nanjing, referred to as "Ning", is the capital of the Ming Dynasty in the south of the Yangtze River.

At that time, people mostly called it Jinling, in the written form of the government, also known as "Nanjing", is the second political and administrative center point of the Ming Dynasty's two capitals and thirteen political divisions.

The area around Nanjing is Nanzhili.

Coming to the foot of a mountain about 30 miles away from Nanjing City, Zhu Youxiao rode on a horse, and as soon as he entered the shadows, he suddenly felt cool and refreshed, and he was very happy.

Looking back, he found that the army of the Yongwei Battalion behind him was marching and winding in the mountain road, Zhu Youxiao said with a smile:

"Ordered to be repaired here for half an hour, and wait for the rest of the line."

"Yes."

Huang Degong responded with his fists and rode his horse to the dust.

"Your Majesty, this place is surrounded by green trees, the stream is murmuring, it is very quiet and spacious, and the Yongwei camp has been walking for an hour under the hot sun, it is time for them to rest."

Wang Chaofu took out the tea set from the basket carried by the little eunuch, placed it on the stone table in front of Zhu Youxiao, poured a small cup of water, and handed it over.

"Your Majesty—"

Zhu Youxiao happened to be a little thirsty, so he drank it all and laughed, with reproach and amusement in his words, and said:

"If I'm tired, I say I'm tired, and I want to rest for a while, what's this."

"Yes..."Wang Chaofu also smiled slightly.

"You all sit, don't stand stupidly, if there is not enough space, sit on the ground, this time it was supposed to rest for a while and then enter Nanjing."

Zhu Youxiao beckoned.

The few people gathered around him glanced at each other, and Chen Ce took the lead and sat on the hard stone floor at Zhu Youxiao's feet.

As soon as he sat down, Qi Jin also sat on the other side.

The two commanders all sat down, and they didn't say anything, the generals of the Yongwei Battalion, such as Tong Zhonghua, Zhou Dunji, Liu Yuanbin, Zhou Yuji and others, all sat around Zhu Youxiao.

The generals are giggling, you punch me and I hammer, and it is very lively.

ordered Huang Degong, who had just rushed back, to hurriedly dismount, squeezed Liu Yuanbin to the other side, and scolded him with a smile:

"You kid, you don't know how to leave me a place!"

Liu Yuanbin gave him a blank look and squeezed back with his buttocks.

Compared with the "family carnival" of military generals, the civil officials looked at each other, but there was no movement, for them, sitting cross-legged on the ground, this is really humiliating.

"You..."

Zhu Youxiao shook his head with a smile, and suddenly remembered something, and asked again: "You have all seen the armaments of the guards along the way, tell me, how about it." ”

"Tell me the truth..."Qi Jin looked a little hesitant.

"Nonsense, I'm the kind of person who likes to hear people pat on the back?" Zhu Youxiao drank another glass of water, put down the teacup with a slightly heavier hand, and said firmly:

"This time, it's about changing the situation, what to say."

After so long, Qi Jin also understood the emperor's character, so he also shook his head, gritted his teeth and said, "It's not good!" ”

"What's the wrong way?"

"It's a mess!"

Qi Jin sighed: "The soldiers of the guards in various places say that they are a combination of military and cantonment, but in fact, they have not known about the war for a long time, and most of the officers of the guards are hereditary. ”

"Although Your Majesty's trip to the south this time can make a slight difference in the situation, but this is a symptom but not a root cause, under the long-term vicious circle, what combat effectiveness can a group of young men who have just grown up to be able to wield weapons and a group of old and weak soldiers have?"