The direction has been set, and all that remains is execution. His wife began to print silver money in a hurry, and Zhu Pingjin quickly returned his attention to his lifeline—the army.

In the early morning of this day, Zhu Pingjin was half-lying in the courtyard of the Shizi's Mansion, reading books while busy, and watching the eunuchs and palace maids in the palace move.

There weren't many things to move, mainly the pile of furniture, books and documents in the West Warm Pavilion. The things in the chamber of several gentlemen were moved together. Zhu Pingjin didn't want to move out of the Shizi Mansion, he just separated his office from his daily life. The prince's mansion is narrow, the west and back are close to the city wall of the palace, there is only one large hall in it, and the rest are the wing rooms and the back room. Eunuchs and palace maids shuttle through it, and living facilities are all over the left and right. He Youyi and Cheng Xiangfeng work here, which is very inconvenient. Besides, after his wife returned to Chengdu, she insisted on going to work with Zhu Pingjin. So Zhu Pingjin chose the Jinde Hall near the south of the Shizi Mansion as his office location.

Not long after, Li Sixian, who was sweating profusely, came to say that he had moved and asked Shizi to come over and take a look. Zhu Pingjin threw the book in his hand onto the chair, and then led a large group of people out of the door of the Shizi's mansion.

Although there are many buildings in the northwest corner of the Shu Palace, there are only two main buildings, the Jinde Hall and the Shizi Mansion. They are all on the west axis of the palace, and the two are only separated by one alley, and the gate of the prince's mansion is facing the back door of the Jinde Palace. The long alley between the Jinde Hall and the Prince's Mansion is followed by the west long street of the palace in the east, and the west end reaches the city wall of the palace. Walls are being built at both ends of the alley to open doors and sentry posts are being set up. In this way, the Shizifu was connected to the Jinde Hall.

The Kintokuden is the same width as the Sekofu, but it grows a lot because it has two main halls in front and back. There are two side halls on both sides of the front hall; The apse has a ring of wings. In the middle of the front hall is dedicated to the Holy Prophet, and the two sides are used for reading. The east and west side halls are dedicated to the tablets of the four matches of Confucius: Yan Hui, Zeng Shen, Kong Ling (JI, Zisi), and Meng Ke (Note 1). The apse is a library building, which stores the book collection of the Shu kings of all dynasties since Zhu Chun, the king of Shu. Because of the studious style of the Shu Palace, the collection of books has never been interrupted for three hundred years. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that this library is the largest library in Sichuan today.

The purpose of the Jinde Hall is to read and lecture to the young King of Shu. In Zhu Pingjin's memory, his father seems to have never been there, so this Jinde Hall has been idle for more than ten years. After Zhu Pingjin returned to the city, the cleaning and renovation of the Jinde Hall began, and it was just completed a few days ago. The apse is just a whitewashed façade and the inside is not touched. The main items of the renovation project are the interior decoration of the front hall and the side hall, and the construction of the east and west wings.

Across the alley, you will enter the temple of Jinde.

After renovation, the dilapidated Jinde Hall has regained its glory. The patent leather that fell everywhere under the beams and columns and the grass in the brick cracks of the courtyard were gone, and the mottled walls were completely new.

Zhu Pingjin went up to the platform from the base behind the apse, and then walked around the back hall along the east side of the platform and stepped into the back door of the main hall.

In front of the back door of the main hall, there is a large hardwood embroidered screen, forming a hidden corridor in the back door. If you go out from the east and west sides of the corridor, you can enter the main hall of the temple.

The regulation of the main hall of the Jinde Hall is the same as the main hall of the Shizifu, and it is also a pattern of five rooms and seven frames, that is, five rooms wide and three rooms deep. One of the rooms is wider than the sides, and is arranged in the usual layout with a reception area. There is a platform in the center with the back against the embroidery screen, and the original offering table and the spirit tablets of the old master and the seventy-two sages on the table have disappeared, replaced by a dragon chair dedicated to Zhu Pingjian. Under the platform, between the two large columns, there are eight Taishi chairs placed opposite, and between the two chairs there is a high coffee table that is convenient for writing records. The east and west sides of the main hall are separated by gables, forming two large and spacious offices.

On the east side of the main hall is Zhu Pingjin's office and lounge, and there is a double main entrance on the south wall leading to the main courtyard. Although the office is large, the interior furnishings are exceptionally simple. Under the south window, his desk sits to the west, with rows of bookshelves and cabinets along the gable behind him. Opposite the desk are two stools for visitors. There is a separate lounge under the north window that separates the office area from the bed and bathroom. The lounge also has two small doors, one that connects to the office; The other leads directly to the corridor behind the screen in the middle of the front hall, which is very easy to enter and exit.

According to the custom of "men on the left and women on the right", since the east is Zhu Pingjin's office area, then the west is naturally his wife's office area. The layout of the room is exactly the same as Zhu Pingjian's, but Zhu Pingjin has long instructed Li Sixian that the furnishings of Miss Luo's room will be arranged when she comes, because he doesn't know what new tricks his wife will have.

Stepping out of the office threshold, the platform in front of the main hall is wide and bright, and it is connected to the main courtyard by three long sloping steps. The middle step is inlaid with Danbi, carved with cloud dragons and waves. The main hall forms a wide corridor under the roof of the main hall. The cloister extends to both sides, connecting the transept and the corridor, and then connecting with the side halls of the three rooms on both sides.

The Jinde Gate is the main entrance of the Jinde Hall and is five rooms wide. On both sides of the gate and behind the side hall, dozens of side rooms are lined up along the courtyard wall. The gate of Jinde, the front and rear halls of Jinde, the side hall and other buildings surround a courtyard that resembles the character of Lu. According to the rules of Wendong and Wuxi, the east and west halls and the wings on both sides will be the office of Zhu Pingjin's civil and military team.

Zhu Pingjin walked down Danbi, walked through the courtyard and the main porch, and went out from the Jinde Gate, and saw the experience of the Yamen across the street at a glance (Note 2). On the right is the west gate of the palace, Zunyi Gate, and on the left is the square in front of the palace that leads to the carrier hall.

Zhu Pingjin nodded to Li Sixian and praised: "That's good!" Centralized work, easy to get in and out! You immediately informed Zheng Changshi and Yu Tongzhi that at three o'clock in the afternoon, this prince would inspect the Left Guard Command Division and discuss the ordnance and equipment of the Left Guard. Let them inform the following people to attend the meeting: Wang Gongzheng of the Gongzheng Office and the officers of the left guard of more than 1,000 households, all the craftsmen of the Gongzheng Office and the guards, and the treasurers and craftsmen of the ironware, jewelry, and woodware shops opened by the palace in the city. Brother Song, Mr. Shu, He, Cheng, Gao, and Mr. Wang are notified by you individually. You're going to have them bring these things...... Did you write it down? ”

Asked the prince to take a look at the newly renovated Jinde Palace, but the prince suddenly notified so many people to go to the left guard yamen for a meeting, and there were a large number of craftsmen among them, which made Li Sixian scratch his head.

The palace has always been a small society with strict hierarchies, and there are special people for such small things as serving tea and water to the master, and the identity is not enough to get close at all, otherwise it is trespassing. The status of the craftsmen of the palace was very low, they were either slaves of the palace, or military households in the guard, and some were artisans who surrendered or fled to the palace. Even the only "master craftsman" with an official body - Wang Gongzheng of Gongzheng, that is, a small official with eight grades. In the past, only when the prince was in high spirits to start the garden, he could be received a few times. As for the other ordinary craftsmen, they have not seen the prince and princess for several generations.

Li Sixian had the idea of admonishment, but this thought instantly melted in his heart: the prince has his own ideas, and he is just a character who runs errands and communicates. He skillfully recited the instructions of the son, and when he saw the son's jaw, he took his leave and went out to do business.

Zhu Pingjin returned to his prince's mansion and continued to read in the warm sunshine, half-lying on a chair. The book reads very slowly, but it is not that he lacks knowledge of ancient literature, the main reason is that the author is deliberately vague and vague in some places.

Zhu Pingjin read somewhere, and really couldn't understand the deep meaning of the book, so he had to put the book down and wander around the courtyard.

Someone heard the prince say to himself: "Blue is better than blue!" Uncle Qi, your mandarin duck array is really complicated. Lao Tzu has several formations, and he can also fight all over the world! ”

In the northeast corner of the Shu Palace, almost all the official offices of the palace except for the Changshi Division are concentrated. In addition to the Yamen of the Left Guard Division of the Shu Wangfu and a small school field, there are also the trial office, the shrine office, the treasure office, the Jishan office, the good doctor office, the ceremony office, the Gongzheng office and other units, more than 120 houses, Hulala occupies nearly one-third of the territory of the east axis of the palace. After a hasty lunch, Zhu Pingjin didn't have time to rest, so he took Wei Chen and a few guards and soldiers to fight a guard of honor, and went to the left guard command division through Guangzhimen.

When Zhu Pingjin arrived at the gate of the Left Guard Command Division, Zheng Anmin and Yu Ruzhen led the civil and military divisions of the palace into two classes, left and right, and were already kneeling to greet them, and Zhu Pingjin's shogunate personnel also joined the ranks of civil and military officials. There weren't many uniformed officials in the ranks, especially after Zhu Pingjin purged the Guards Division. But there were twenty or thirty of the unemployed low-ranking officials and the craftsmen who had worked all year round, kneeling far behind the officials.

Li Sixian shouted, and the crowd suddenly grew taller. Zhu Pingjin jumped out of the sedan chair with a smile on his face and talked to the men who gathered around. Song Zhenzong, who spoke the loudest, was still sonorous, and it could be seen that he had been proud of the spring breeze recently. During this time, Song Zhenzong led the caravan and Tusi cavalry to deter the left guards outside the east gate to prevent people with different intentions from making trouble, but he didn't expect the left guards to be unexpectedly stable.

Liu Fatzi and most of the senior officers of the Left Guard lived in the city on weekdays. After the accident of the king of Shu that night, the Chengdu Mansion was immediately closed and the whole city was under martial law. The middle and lower-ranking officers of the left guard were locked up outside the city, and no one knew that something was wrong in the city. When Liu Fatzi was woken up by the old bustard of a brothel in Dongcheng, he hurriedly rushed back to the palace in a daze, but the palace was also under martial law. Tusi soldiers suddenly appeared at the four gates of the palace, and they didn't buy Liu Quanzhong, the commander of the left guard. Liu Fatzi was in a hurry and scolded loudly. The toast soldiers were scolded, so they rushed out, beat him fat first, and then tied him up and escorted him into the duty room. Liu Qianzhong originally wanted to go out after dawn to turn the tables, but soon, a piece of news came that made his hands and feet cold: he was involved in the murder of the king.

After martial law was lifted, the sergeant of the left guard learned that the officer in the city had been arrested, and it was said that he was suspected of murdering the prince. Most of the military households are honest and ignore everything; A small number of military households were filled with righteous indignation and gathered at the door of the officer's house in Zhuangli to demand that the rebellious Liu Fatzi and his party be severely punished. Some officers, military households, and family members who had anything to do with Liu Fatzi were besieged and beaten by military households. Song Zhenzong led the army into the village to suppress and arrest two who were about to set fire to the house. But it wasn't until Shu Guoping arrived at the left guard that public opinion completely calmed down. Shu Guoping confiscated the property of Liu Fatzi and his party's farmhouse, dismissed their families, and arrested more than a dozen middle- and lower-ranking officers. After the interrogation, one was killed, and the rest were stripped of their official clothes, detained pending sentencing, or cut off from their posts.

The amount of property confiscated from the field is staggering. Shu Guoping used this money to give each registered Cheng Ding one tael of silver, a total of more than 7,000 taels. The left guard was jubilant, and Zhu Pingjin instantly won the military heart of the left guard.

Facts have proven and will continue to prove that the hereditary soldiers of more than 100 generations in 300 years, the inertia of values, and the accumulation of positive energy are not something that a few thieves who steal high-ranking positions can shake in a short period of time! This made Zhu Pingjian's impression of the left guard suddenly very good. The follow-up means originally prepared were not only cancelled, but on the contrary, he was also ready to rebuild his own private army by borrowing the official military establishment of the Left Guard.

A chair was brought from the yamen and placed on the steps outside the threshold. Zhu Pingjin sat down, smiled heartily, and greeted everyone politely.

"There are many people today, and the yamen is small, so we will discuss at this yamen!"

Zheng Anmin and Yu Ruzhen are still a little unfamiliar with this approachable style of leadership. They were still hesitating, but Song Zhenzong and the others, who were born in the caravan, were not surprised when they saw it, and immediately surrounded them.

"Tell the craftsmen to come too! Where can you hear it when it's far away? Zhu Pingjin stood up and greeted him personally.

Note 1: In the ninth year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court sealed the four saints of Confucius. Yan Hui is a saint, Zeng Shen is a saint, Kong Ling is a saint, and Meng Ke is a saint.

Note 2: According to Xiangmu's research, this should be the worship of the Si Yamen, and the Si Yamen is on the east side of the palace. The plot needs to be changed here.

At present, the architectural layout information of the Ming Shu palace is incomplete. Regarding the architectural layout of the Jinde Hall, Hibiki refers to some of the feudal palaces and the Confucian Temple.