"Woo-"

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

In late February, when Zhu Youzhen had just left Xining, with the sound of the train whistle, Zhu Ciran, who had visited all parts of Daming, also successfully arrived in Nanjing from Hangzhou.

They passed through Huzhou, Jiaxing, Suzhou, and Changzhou along the way, and almost walked through several places where Daming was most prosperous.

Almost half of the population is hidden, and the people who built the railroad are also huge.

Because he already had a general understanding of the situation in Jiangnan, Zhu Ciran did not enter these cities to rest, but just watched on the periphery.

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

Nanjing, formerly known as Jinling, has been a prosperous and wealthy place since the Kuching Dynasty, and even in later generations it was an important city in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Belt.

In the eyes of the ancient literati and writers, this is a splendid place of articles, gentle and rich township.

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

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

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

At that time, as the Ming Dynasty with the two-capital system, many people in later generations were thinking about whether it was possible for Emperor Chongzhen to escape to Nanjing before the city of Beijing was broken, relying on the financial resources of the land south of the Yangtze River.

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

For example, right now, when Zhu Ciran and his children passed by the Nanjing Chengdong Station of the "Beijing-Hangzhou Railway", the people and businessmen who took the train here could be described as black.

As the hub of the Ming Dynasty to control the southeast, the north and east stations of Nanjing City cover an area of 1,000 acres, about 614,000 square meters, and set up 18 platforms, 34 lines, and the annual passenger traffic can reach more than 30 million people.

The main reason why it was built so large was that Nanjing's population successfully exceeded 1.6 million in the sixteenth year of the Apocalypse.

"Such a big railway station can be crowded like this, how many people must be in this Nanjing city......

At the gate of the train station, Zhu Ciran sat on a four-wheeled car, looking at the tens of thousands of people sitting on rest chairs in the square, Zhu Ciran could hardly imagine that the square was like this, and the station would be crowded.

Faced with his inquiry, Liu Shun replied after a little thought:

"I remember that in June of the sixteenth year of the Apocalypse, the household department played a game, and the population of Nanjing exceeded 1.6 million, and now it must be even more."

"1.6 million ......" Hearing that the population of Nanjing City is more than 300,000 more than that of Beijing City, Zhu Ciran couldn't help but be speechless.

The population represents the prosperity of a place in such an era, and almost from the time when Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty and set the capital of Nanjing, Nanjing was the most populous city in the Ming Dynasty.

In the 26th year of Hongwu alone, the population of Nanjing reached 700,000.

After Emperor Yongle ascended the throne, he raised the plan to move the capital, even if he took away more than 100,000 merchants and handicraftsmen when he moved the capital to Beijing, so that the population of Nanjing City dropped to more than 500,000 and lost its former prosperity.

However, after all, the city of Nanjing has a siphon effect on the entire Jiangnan region, so in the Chenghua period, with the influx of a large number of people, Nanjing began to restore its former prosperity.

Due to the serious land annexation in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, many peasants who lost their land could only go to the city to find a way to survive, so the population of Nanjing skyrocketed.

The rapid increase in population also brought a large number of labor and consumer markets, which made Nanjing's economy begin to take off and accelerated the progress of urbanization in Jiangnan, which is why later generations called Jiangnan in the Ming Dynasty and the germination of capitalism.

During the Wanli period, some people said that the population of Nanjing City had reached 1.2 million people.

The reason why it could not continue to grow was that the city and the technological level of this era limited the city of Nanjing, so that it could no longer support more people.

However, with Zhu Youzhen's military campaigns and the opening up of overseas provinces, a steady stream of overseas grain began to pour into Jiangnan, and the population of Nanjing began to grow again.

At present, the population of more than 1.6 million is only the aftermath of the influx of grain from overseas, and with the construction and completion of the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway and the Songchuan Railway, the population of Nanjing may usher in an explosion.

Zhu Ciran and the others looked at the scene of the railway station, and then rode through the Xianhe Gate in the outer city of Nanjing into the city of Nanjing.

As the prince of the Ming Dynasty and the future emperor, the first thing Zhu Ciran did when he came to Nanjing was naturally to go to the Ming Tomb on behalf of his father and uncle to worship Emperor Gao, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty.

It's just that the development of Nanjing City is too fast, and there are still large tracts of cultivated land in the Wanli period, and now it is already a purely commercial city with staggered streets and shops.

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

Riding on the street, Zhu Ciran could see all kinds of shops, and the streets were full of people.

There seems to be no lock here for the words "peers are enemies", because the same type of stores are often clustered together.

Snack Street, Ready-to-wear Street, Shoes and Hats Street, Flower Street, Book Street, Theater Street......

The shops are clustered 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 shops making goods in the back.

Generally speaking, the merchants of Nanjing City were craftsmen themselves, and they usually made and sold at the same time.

Of course, the influx of people and the unlimited development of shops are not all good, and as the number of people in the city increases, social security becomes a huge problem......

"Grab something! Catch the thief! ”

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

They hurriedly stopped to look, only to see two officials and a wealthy merchant in silk chasing a strong man.

Such a scene also occurs from time to time in Guangzhou, Chengdu, Kunming, and Xi'an, and generally when the "catch the thief" shouts out, the local people will help arrest it.

But in this Nanjing City, the capital of the Ming Dynasty, when such a slogan was shouted, the pedestrians around were afraid to avoid it.

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

Since the thief was coming from the same direction as they came, the thief was caught off guard by a stone, and one of them staggered to the ground, where he was held down by the two servants who followed.

"Let's go, don't get into trouble."

Seeing that the thief was caught, Zhu Ciran urged Liu Shun to ride out of here quickly, obviously not wanting to be entangled by the officials.

At Zhu Ciran's urging, the four of them rode away from the street.

However, as they continued to penetrate deeper into the city of Nanjing, the number of merchants on the sidewalks on both sides of the roadway gradually increased, and it became more and more prosperous the further they went.

The road in Nanjing City is not wide, at least not as wide as it is compared to his identity as an accompaniment to the capital.

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

The congestion of the road has caused the rivers that originally passed through the city to begin to "block boats", even if the Ministry of Industry came to demolish it in the tenth year of the Apocalypse, the widening of the road has also suffered a lot of obstacles.

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

Eight zhang is the left and right sidewalks, and twenty zhang is the left and right roadways, even if it is already a little wide, but compared to the population of Nanjing, this still seems a little crowded.

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

"You ride to the palace, Liu Shun and I will walk to Xiaoling first."

Zhu Ciran, who couldn't stand the traffic jam, ordered the two thin brocade guards in the back row, and then got out of the car with Liu Shun in front of them.

The two crossed the roadway, came to the sidewalk, and asked for directions all the way, and walked the alley to Xiaoling.

For Zhu, cycling and walking are two very different pleasures.

Cycling is only suitable for walking and enjoying the scenery in the wilderness, but walking is more suitable for enjoying the scenery of the city.

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

He walked into a small bazaar, which was a little dirty, like a vegetable market, and the merchants in the market were mostly peasants who had come to the city.

They sit in the open field, sell or exchange the produce in their hands, and then get the goods they need to take home.

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

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

This group of foreign merchants bought goods from here at low prices, and then took the goods on the train and ran to other places to sell them at high prices.

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

Zhu Ciran walked around casually, bought a few baked cakes and two catties of paper money that his ancestors used to like to eat, and rushed towards Xiaoling with the paper money.

The Ming Tomb of Filial Piety is located at the foot of the Purple Mountain in Nanjing, and is the mausoleum of Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Xiaoci Gao.

Because Zhu Yuanzhang pursues filial piety to rule the world, this place is called "filial piety".

This place covers an area of more than 3,000 acres, which can be regarded as one of the largest imperial mausoleums in all dynasties.

In the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Tomb has always been the ancestral root of the place, highly respected, there are three fixed sacrifices every year, five small sacrifices, all the major events of the country, also need to send the ministers to pay tribute.

However, since the Ming Dynasty moved its capital to Beijing, in addition to the Zhengde Emperor Zhu Houzhao personally came to worship, in the two hundred and sixty-nine years of the Ming Dynasty, there were only less than 70 years of the emperor to worship in person.

It is also very rare for Zhu Ciran to come to worship as a prince, so when they arrived at Xiaoling and showed the waist card of the East Palace, the Xiaoling guards stationed in Xiaoling were a little restless for a while.

Xiaolingwei was one of the few guards that Zhu Youzhen did not dismantle, but four years after the Apocalypse, he still turned Xiaolingwei into a professional army and moved their families to Zhenjiang to cultivate the fields.

The hereditary filial piety tomb guards the tomb all the year round, but there has never been a situation of self-theft.

After entering the filial piety tomb, as soon as they entered the door, Zhu Ciran and the others saw a large area of land, on which many plum blossoms were planted.

These plum blossoms are some of the flowers that are ready to be put into bloom, some of which are already blooming, very brilliant, and exude a charming smell.

"Planting plum blossoms feels a bit wasteful, I estimate that according to the character of the ancestors, Xiao Lingwei will definitely let Xiaolingwei plant the mountain full of grain and vegetables."

Carrying two catties of paper money and the baked cakes he bought, Zhu Ciran smiled happily, which made Liu Shun embarrassed to hear it.

Farming on the top of his ancestors' heads is also a loss to this guy.

If these words were known by the emperor and the king of Qi, it would be strange if they didn't beat him to the ground.

Of course, Liu Shun didn't dare to complain himself, he could only take Xiao Lingwei and escort Zhu Ciran to continue walking.

Soon they arrived at the Shinto of Xiaoling, which has two Shinto, one called Shixiang Road Shinto and the other called Weng Zhonglu Shinto.

There are six types of stone beasts in the Stone Elephant Road Shinto, which are horses, unicorns, lions, elephants, camels, and hedgehogs.

They were all carved from a single boulder, defending Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma.

Weng Zhonglu Shinto has four civil officials and four military generals, the military generals wear armor and hold weapons in their hands, and the patterns on them are very fine, and the civil officials are like scholars, very personable.

Along the long road, Zhu Ciran and the others walked into the Wenwu Gate, and after resting, a group of people came to the Inner Red Gate.

This inner red gate is also called the Yin and Yang Gate, and traditionally, this door separates the yang and the underworld.

Walking across the Shengxian Bridge of the Inner Red Gate, they walked up from the arch in the middle of the square city, where there were fifty-four steps.

The black road made people feel nervous, but Zhu Ciran continued to say happily: "The place where the ancestor lives is quite cool, and it is estimated that there is no need to put ice cubes in summer." ”

"Ancestor...... Can you have a snack...... "Listening to Zhu Ciran's words becoming more and more out of tune, if it weren't for his identity here, Liu Shun would definitely seal his broken mouth.

However, because of Zhu Ciran's jokes, Liu Shun and the others relaxed a little, and under the guidance of the Xiaoling guards, they successfully ascended the Ming Tower.

The back of the Ming Tower is Dulongfu, where the tombs of Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma are buried.

It is said that Zhu Yuanzhang likes deer very much, he thinks that deer are very aura, and he breeds a lot of deer on Dulongfu, and each deer has a piece of jade hanging around its neck, and no one can hurt them, but ......

"Can these deer be fetched and eaten?"

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

Zhu Ciran's words almost made the commander of Xiaolingwei who led the way untidy, he replied to Zhu Ciran in a cold sweat, but Zhu Ciran asked: "I can't do it?" ”

"Your Royal Highness, even Banzai and King Qi can't fight, this is the rule set by Emperor Taizu Gao......" Xiao Lingwei commanded Mei Chun to speak with a smile.

"Okay......" Hearing that he couldn't call to eat, Zhu Ciran's eyes actually showed a trace of regret, and Liu Shunzhi gritted his teeth.

But fortunately, it was already over when he came here, and then Liu Shun accompanied Zhu Ciran to burn the two catties of paper money for Zhu Yuanzhang and Queen Ma, and by the way, he offered five baked cakes worth only ten yuan.

Xiao Lingwei commanded Mei Chun to look at this scene and couldn't help despairing, this is estimated to be the cheapest sacrifice Zhu Yuanzhang has received since the founding of the Ming Dynasty 269 years ago.

I don't know if Zhu Yuanzhang, who is underground, will think that the Ming Dynasty is dead, and his children and grandchildren can't even afford to eat.

"That's it! Let's go, go for a walk around town. ”

After a simple kowtow three times, Zhu Ciran got up and signaled that he wanted to leave, and the appearance of coming and going like the wind made the corners of Mei Chun's eyes twitch.

Zhu Ciran's performance is not as sincere as the sacrifice of a small soldier under his Mei Chun.

However, Mei Chun didn't dare to say anything, just sent Zhu Ciran and them down the mountain, and then scolded them behind their backs.

Xiaoling, who was regarded as a spiritual pillar by Xiaolingwei, was treated so contemptuously by Zhu Ciran, as the patriarch of the Mei family who had guarded the Ming Xiaoling for more than 200 years, it was strange that Mei Chun did not scold.

Mei Chun estimated that he would be so angry that he couldn't sleep tonight, but Zhu Ciran happily went down the mountain 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 down the street at the foot of the Purple Mountain seems to be for the view of the mountains, so there are many teahouses and restaurants here, especially the teahouses are very popular.

The scholars of the late Ming Dynasty once described the tea houses and restaurants in Nanjing, and the content was that "there are streets and alleys, and there are six or seven hundred large and small restaurants, and there are more than 1,000 tea houses."

This is still a matter of Wanli, and in the seventeenth year of the Apocalypse, there are probably no less than 2,000 tea houses and no less than 1,000 restaurants in Nanjing.

Walking here, Zhu Ciran heard the most news about the businessmen discussing the train and the "Daming Daily" and what things were worth in various places.

In addition, it is nothing more than the content of the businessmen discussing the group of Yangzhou thin horses in the Qinhuai River.

Zhu Ciran has no interest in Qinhuaihe, he is a prince, there is no need to find the so-called Qingqi people.

If he really finds it, don't look at Zhu Youxiao's fatness, but when he catches up with people, he runs fast.

"There's nothing to do, let's go back to the palace first, rest and rest, and set off 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 was no longer shopping, Liu Shun also breathed a sigh of relief, and then escorted him to the palace.

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

The entire palace was built from the Yuan Dynasty to the 26th year of Zheng, and was 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, so when building this palace, Zhu Yuanzhang was built according to the principle of "left ancestor and right society, facing the back market" contained in the "Zhou Li Kao Gong Ji".

The circumference of the whole palace city is more than half of five miles, the two sides of Hongwu Gate to Chengtian Gate are the central government office area, and the two sides of Chengtian Gate to Noon Gate are Taimiao, Sheji Altar.

The previous dynasty took Fengtian Palace, Huagai Palace, and Jinshen Hall as the core, and there were Wenhua Palace, Wenlou in the east, and Wuying Hall and Wulou in the west.

The back court takes the Qianqing Palace and Kunning Palace as the core, there are Chunhe Palace in the east, there are Rouyi Palace, Fengxian Palace, Dashan Palace, Ninety-Five Flying Dragon Palace, West Palace in the west, and the six palaces in the east and west on both sides.

In terms of overall structure, except that the names of the three major halls are different from those of the Beijing Imperial Palace, the other situations are basically the same.

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

Looking at this scene, the good-natured Zhu Ciran couldn't help but scold: "What do the officials of the Ministry of Industry do? The palace is not going to be built like this?! ”

"Your Highness ...... angry"

Knowing that the crown prince was coming to Nanjing, the officials of the six departments of Nanjing had been waiting in Fengtianmen for a long time, so they were also prepared to be scolded.

Zhang Yandeng, the secretary of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, walked out with a face of shame, and he said:

"As early as the Jiajing period, the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing had asked the imperial court to allocate silver to repair the palace, but Emperor Sejong ignored it."

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

"In the early years of the Apocalypse, the Ministry of Industry used to be sparse, but Banzai also responded with the urgency of the war in the north and temporarily shelved it."

"It's not that the Nanjing Ministry of Industry doesn't want to repair this palace, but that there is no silver ......to repair it."

Zhang Yandeng was very aggrieved, in order to appease Zhu Ciran, he could only say:

"Fortunately, Nanjing Mansion will spend 3,000 taels of silver every year to repair it, so the palace in the inner court is relatively clean and intact."

"......" Listening to Zhang Yandeng's words, Zhu Ciran didn't feel good in his heart.

He turned to look at some of the palaces and temples that had collapsed, and thought that the train had been built through Nanjing, and the future emperor could live in Beijing in the first half of each year and Nanjing in the second half of the year to control Jiangnan, so he thought about it before he spoke:

"Now that the train has been repaired, my father may come to Nanjing to rest when he will come."

"Tomorrow I will go to my father's emperor, and ask my father to allocate internal funds to repair the Nanjing Imperial Palace, and you will take out a repair note and write it to me within three days."

"Three days later, I returned north to Shuntian and personally handed over the song to my father."

"The minister's decree ......" Hearing Zhu Ciran's words, Zhang Yandeng breathed a sigh of relief, at least Zhu Ciran knew that the problem was that he had no money, not let them figure it out by themselves.

Zhu Ciran's approach was seen by the other five scholars, and they looked at each other, obviously thinking that Zhu Ciran, the prince, was very good.

"Your Highness, the Spring and Palace is cleaned up, and you can go in and live."

At the critical moment, a brocade guard came to Zhu Ciran and told him that the Chunhe Palace, which was the East Palace, had been cleaned up.

Hearing this, Zhu Ciran also raised his hand to send back the six Shangshu, and took Liu Shun and others into the Chunhe Palace in the east of the Wenhua Palace.

】

Similar to Zhu Ciran's expectations, many palaces in the East Palace have collapsed or fallen into disrepair.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Industry in Nanjing also knew that the prince would definitely come to Nanjing to worship his ancestors, so he asked people to repair the Yanzuo Palace, which was the main hall of the East Palace, last year, otherwise Zhu Ciran was really afraid that the house would collapse if he fell asleep.

With a stomach full of anger, Zhu Ciran fell asleep without even eating.

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