"It's a good thing that the emperor likes simplicity, but it's too simple and unnecessary? Besides, the emperor represents the prestige of the imperial court, if you always live in such a simple barracks, how do you look outside? Chen Hong still didn't agree with the prime minister's opinion, "However, there is no need to go back to the palace, the emperor doesn't like to live in the deep palace and be isolated from the outside world, which is a good thing." ”

"The palace is really not a good place to live." The prime minister sighed suddenly.

When he used to be a scholar in Xuzhou, he secretly envied the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and imagined the emperor's life in the Forbidden City. However, his current office is located in the palace, so his favorability and longing for the palace have plummeted.

It's a big place, but it's really not a good place to live, it's cold and windy in winter, and the living in the hall is quite uncomfortable. So although he also felt that it was a little indecent for the emperor to live in the barracks, he did not resolutely ask the emperor to move to the palace.

"So those of us who are courtiers should share the worries of the monarch and let the emperor have a good place to live." Just as he was still sighing, Chen Hong suddenly followed the words and said, "The Forbidden City is not very easy to live in, so let's find another good place?" ”

"How?" The prime minister became more serious, "You mean ......"

"Yes, let's just ask to build a palace for the emperor." Chen Hong nodded, "We, the ministers, jointly proposed it. ”

"Shubetsu Palace?" The prime minister frowned slightly. "It's hard for us as ministers to mention this matter."

"What's not to mention? That's what we'd better mention! The emperor himself ordered the construction of a palace, although the name is justified, but there are always some people in the world who will say strange things, if we jointly go to ask for it......" Chen Hong smiled slightly, "Then the emperor can also comply with the invitation of the world's ministers, right?" This is too convenient for the emperor. ”

The prime minister was silent.

"The emperor doesn't necessarily like this proposal." After a moment, he whispered.

"Can you bear to let the emperor always live in such a humble place, and we will always meet in this military camp? You can't call the civil and military of the Manchu Dynasty once, otherwise someone will have to stand outside! ”

Chen Hong's words were very convincing, so the prime minister was really slightly moved.

Although he is already in the phase, his respect for the emperor is still as sincere as when he was in Xuzhou, so he is also very happy to see that the emperor can be treated commensurate with the throne while fulfilling the duties of the emperor, and it is not good to be too simple.

"As soon as the new dynasty was established, we built a lot of construction, like this...... Isn't that good? After hesitating for a moment, the prime minister finally spoke slowly, "Besides, the emperor can't pass there, he doesn't like to work hard and lose money." ”

"The former Mingfa forced labor was a waste of labor and money, but we are not!" The Minister of Finance laughed, "We sent people over, but if we have to take care of food and pay wages, how can we work for the people?" ”

In the former Ming Dynasty, the forced labor was very harsh, and the people were often sent to various places to serve in the construction of the project, which not only seriously delayed production, but also did not get the due remuneration for the laborers, which can be said to be a bad government. After the establishment of the new dynasty, on the one hand, it paid attention to reducing the amount of labor conscripted and restricting the indiscriminate use of the people's power by the yamen in various localities, and on the other hand, it also explicitly stipulated that labor would no longer be levied without compensation, and the government would be responsible for food and salaries.

Although this consumed more resources and wealth of the imperial court than before, the public discontent of the new dynasty was reduced to a minimum. This policy, combined with other measures, led to the fact that when the new dynasty was clearly newly established and all parts of the country were in ruins, the people everywhere felt that life was much more comfortable than in the pre-Ming period.

Of course, the huge expenditure of this kind of virtuous government is based on the financial capacity of the imperial court, which is far stronger than that of the previous dynasty. Because of its previous operations in Xuzhou, the imperial court had already controlled a large number of workshops, mines, and trading houses before its establishment, and these industries continuously concentrated wealth in the hands of the imperial court, which also allowed the imperial court to correspondingly reduce some of its dependence on agricultural taxes, and the burden on natural farmers was also reduced a lot. Now, after several years of recuperation, the Ganghuai and Gyeonggi regions have recovered from the war and have a faint sense of rebirth.

These achievements are naturally inseparable from the efforts of the Chinese courtiers of the DPRK, and the cabinet composed of the minister of finance and finance and the carefully selected local officials have risen in prestige in recent years, and these two people are still admired by the people of the time as Xiao He and Chen Ping.

It is precisely because of his scruples about the court and his reputation that although the prime minister does not object to letting the emperor live in a better place, he is still a little hesitant.

"Building a palace is not a small job, how can it not be considered labor?" Cheng asked instead.

"Although the construction of the palace is a great work, but more craftsmen are required, how much can the people who are illiterate and do not know how to build be used? At most, it is necessary to use a thousand people, although there is a shortage of people in various places, but there is no shortage of this one, but it can be resettled for landless homeless, so that they can have a job to do, so that they will not be forced by hunger and cold. The finance minister immediately replied to the prime minister's rhetorical question, "Prime minister, anyway, we have to distribute food to these homeless people, and it is more cost-effective to let them build a palace for the emperor than to give it for nothing, right?" ”

"That's right." The prime minister quickly accepted this statement.

Although the world has been rough and stable, not all the displaced people who have fled from place to place have not dispersed, and many of them are concentrated in the Gyeonggi area. A lot of the grain that the imperial court transported from Jiangnan every year was distributed to these displaced people. Because the offensive and defensive forces in various places had a great demand for labor, the new dynasty was not keen on allocating ownerless land, so most of the stranded displaced people suddenly fell into the dilemma of having nothing to do. From this point of view, it is much better to let them have work to do and build a palace for the imperial court than to distribute food for nothing to support them.

"Did you tell the minister about this?" His attitude immediately softened, "It's not easy to do this without the minister's words. ”

Gong Xiang refers to the Minister of Wei Guo Xu Housheng, who is now a minister in the cabinet, he is responsible for the country's industrial mining and construction undertakings, if you want to build a palace, site selection, construction is inseparable from his leadership, and only he can organize enough craftsmen and manpower to get things done.

What's more, he is the emperor's wife and brother, and his relationship with the emperor is even more extraordinary, if he also participates in the ranks of the ministers who plead, the emperor is easier to be convinced.

"The minister is now in the suburbs, supervising the construction of the fortress, of course I haven't had time to tell him this idea." Chen Hong smiled, "However, I guess he shouldn't object to this idea, right?" ”

The former Ming Dynasty ran the Beijing Division for many years, and the original Beijing Division could be said to be high and deep in the city, and the defense of infantry and cavalry with swords, guns, bows and arrows could be said to be impregnable, but now the times are different, the power of guns and cannons has become more and more powerful, and the defensive measures around the original Beijing Division are becoming more and more useless. In the last few years of the former Ming Dynasty, the Zhao army marched north several times, and the defense of the Beijing division could be said to be vulnerable, and the city wall was particularly weak in front of the cannons of the Zhao army.

Since Jingshi was designated as the capital of the new dynasty, the defense of Jingshi was particularly important, and the consensus of the court was that the existing defense facilities of Jingshi were completely unusable and must be completely overturned and rebuilt. Therefore, from a few years ago, the new dynasty began the construction of the outer defense facilities of the Beijing Division.

Unlike previous dynasties, this time the construction was personally led by Minister of Industry Xu Housheng, and there were some architects from the West as consultants.

At this time, the Western countries had been fighting with guns for a hundred years, and not long ago they had fought a melee war that lasted for 30 years, so they were the most experienced in building fortresses to defend against guns, so the new dynasty paid attention to learning from their experience from the beginning, and hired many architects from the West through missionaries to assist Xu Housheng in building defensive fortresses on the outskirts of the capital.

These bastions are heavy and have six-pointed stars in the shape of a six-pointed star, and they are filled with guns that allow them to shoot at attacking enemies from all angles. In the design of the craftsmen, more than a dozen such fortresses should be built, and the dots around the capital can really make the defense of the capital impregnable.

Wei Guogong Xu Housheng has always acted cautiously and seriously, and the fortifications of the capital are the top priority, so since he received this task, he has been personally supervising the front line of the project, often inspecting back and forth between the various fortresses, for fear of slacking off below, affecting the fact that he did not go home to rest when the New Year was approaching, which is really admirable.

"He probably wouldn't object." The prime minister also immediately agreed with Chen Hong's opinion, "As long as he is here, this will be much easier!" Hasn't he been running every day on the outskirts of the capital recently? Isn't it possible to do the same thing about choosing a location for the palace? ”

"By the way, after the fort is repaired, the craftsmen and workers can move to the palace on the spot, which is convenient. So it's even less laborious, isn't it? Chen Hong's thoughts were similar to those of Prime Minister, and then, as if he had thought of something, he laughed again, "Those Western craftsmen don't just build bunkers, do they?" I think you can ask them how to repair the Western palace, and then take its essence and use it in the palace. ”

"Construct Western buildings in other palaces as well? Interesting, interesting, that's it! The prime minister also thought it was a good idea, and laughed too.

However, smiling and smiling, he slowly remembered a very important question. "Hey, no, you said about the labor, but what about the money? It's going to cost a lot of money, right? Money is a nuisance, huh? ”

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