"Beep-"

"Alert!"

October 25, 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 soldiers and horses of the Shangzhi Jiangning Battalion, Shangyuan Battalion, and Yingtian Battalion stationed in Nanjing City.

In addition to these three battalions of soldiers and horses, Zhang Jianyan, the soldier and horse envoy of Nanzhili, also led 3,000 soldiers and horses to Nanjing City to arrive.

Nanjing Hubu Shangshu Fan Fucui also led 2,000 servants, and Nanjing Jinyi Wei Qianhu also led thousands of Jinyi guards to arrive.

Of course, in addition to the soldiers and horses, there were nearly 1,000 Beijing officials and more than 300 eunuchs left behind in Nanjing to greet them.

For a time, more than 16,000 people gathered at Nanjing North Railway Station, and the person they wanted to greet was naturally Zhu Youxiao, who was the Son of Heaven.

Standing in the train station, the six Shangshu left behind were waiting anxiously.

In the Ming Dynasty, as a dynasty that implemented the two-capital system, Nanjing did not have three provincial-level administrative institutions, including the Political Division, the Judicial Division, and the Nanjing Metropolitan Division.

After the emergence of the North Zhili, many of the functions of the South Zhili have not been abolished or disappeared, and the four prefectures and fourteen prefectures within the jurisdiction are still under the direct management of the Central Committee of the South Zhili.

As a result, Nanjing also has a central agency, which is actually half the size of Beijing.

In addition to the absence 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 the sixth department, there are basically only right waiters, and there are no left waiters.

The Metropolitan Inspectorate also only has the right capital imperial history, the right deputy capital imperial history, and the right imperial history, and there is no corresponding left capital imperial history, left deputy capital imperial history, and left imperial history.

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

A few people with great status and power in Nanjing stayed behind in the yamen, but in fact they were still responsible for the tasks of the entire Jiangnan and even the entire country.

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

The yamen left behind in Nanjing include but are not limited to the Nanjing Zongren Mansion, the Six Ministries, the Nanjing Metropolitan Inspection Yuan, the Tongzheng Division, the Dali Temple, the Zhan Shifu, the Hanlin Academy, the Guozijian, the Taichang Temple, the Taifu Temple, the Guanglu Temple, the Honglu Temple, the Shangbao Division, the Liuke, the Pedestrian Division, the Qin Tianjian Division, the Wucheng Terracotta Division and other yamen.

The Nanjing Zongren Mansion was merged into the Beijing Zongren Mansion by Zhu Youzhen in the tenth year of the Apocalypse, and the original two Beijing Zongren Mansions were basically useless, and the functions and powers were almost completely transferred to the Ministry of Rites.

However, after the merger of Zhu Youzhen in the tenth year of the Apocalypse, a series of official positions in the Zongren Mansion have changed.

In the past, the Qin Wangfu was the same Zhu clan Zongzheng for thousands of years, but now the Zongren Order has become the crown prince Zhu Ciran, the left Zongzheng is the King of Qi Zhu Youzhen, and the right Zongzheng is the King of Zhou Zhu Su Qin.

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

In addition to Europe and Oceania, all other continents have Ming vassal kings, and if the order is given to the vassal king again, it is inevitable that there will be vassal kings who will attack other vassal states under the banner of teaching unworthy descendants.

Since the emperor could not hold an official position, Zhu Ciran, as the prince, naturally had to serve as the Zongren Order, and the Qi and Zhou States, which were the strongest among the vassals, naturally had to serve as the left and right Zongzheng.

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

There have been changes in the Zongren Mansion, and other yamen are no exception, and the Sixth Department of Nanjing, which originally had real power, was changed by Zhu Youzhen.

The original Nanjing Ministry of Officials was mainly responsible for the management of the transfer of civil officials from the Southern Zhili and the nine southern provinces, and inspected their responsibilities, but the results needed to be reported to the Beijing Ministry of Officials.

However, due to the accession of the three southern provinces of Luchuan, Jiaozhi, and Jiugang, Zhu Youzhen chose to directly cancel the functions of the Nanjing Ministry of Officials for these twelve provinces, and only retained the management functions of the southern Zhili.

After the Ministry of Officials, Nanjing's Household Department, which was the main authority to manage the finances of the south, naturally could not escape.

In the past, the household department of Nanjing was mainly responsible for distributing the salaries of officials from the southern provinces of Beijing and Kowloon, taking charge of Nanjing's grain storage, as well as the inspection, guarding, collection and release, transportation, loss and other matters of each granary, and then sending a copy to the storage governor at the end of the year.

In addition, the Nanjing Household Department was also responsible for the grain storage of the various health centers in Nanjing, as well as the distribution of the food for the craftsmen of the Nanjing official army.

As for the yellow book of the whole country, it is also managed by the household department of Nanjing, 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 Youzhen sent Li Changgeng here to serve as the secretary of the household department in Nanjing, which is enough to show the importance of this position.

Therefore, in order to further return the financial power to the central government, Zhu Youzhen also canceled all the functions and powers of the Nanjing Household Department except for 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 worshipping the Ming Tomb and the Imperial Mausoleum of Fengyang in the central capital, and the Ministry of War no longer had military affairs, horse administration, shipping administration and local military affairs in the southern provinces, and only the soldiers and horses of the Southern Zhili Division were used for its mobilization.

In addition to these yamen, the remaining yamen such as the Criminal Department, the Ministry of Industry, the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the General Administration Division, the Dali Temple, the Zhan Shifu, the Hanlin Academy, the Guozijian, the Six Sections, the Pedestrian Division, the Qintianjian Division, and the Wucheng Terracotta Division were not laid off, but cut down.

For example, the Zhan Shifu, Hanlin Yuan, Guozijian, Taichang Temple, Taifu Temple, Guanglu Temple, Honglu Temple, Shangbao Division, Liuke, Pedestrian Division, Qin Tianjian and other yamen were directly abolished.

It can be said that after Zhu Youzhen's 10-year apocalypse, Nanjing's authority was basically limited to Nanzhili, and if it sounds good, it is Nanjing, and if it is not good, it is Jiangnan Province.

The authority was reduced, and the six Shangshu and the yamen of the various ministries that stayed behind were naturally unwilling, but they did not dare to oppose Zhu Youzhen, so they could only endure it silently.

Fortunately, they didn't wait too long, and with the Beijing-Hangzhou Railway about to be completed, the emperor finally chose to go south and visit Nanjing.

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

However, they wanted the emperor to stay in Nanjing, but some people didn't.

Not to mention anything else, the nobles and gentry landlords in the south of the Yangtze River don't want the emperor to stay in Nanjing for a long time, after all, for them, who are accustomed to the sky high and the emperor is far away, and they have done a lot of dirty things, no one wants to press an emperor who will find their secrets at any time.

Although their secrets have long been discovered by Zhu Youzhen, and Zhu Youzhen has already started to clean them up, after all, how many days can they survive.

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

"Woo-"

"It's coming! Here it comes! ”

Hearing the shrill whistle, everyone knew that the emperor was coming, so they waited for fear of a mistake.

In their nervous breathing, a black train gradually drove into Nanjing North Railway Station, and the first to get off was not the emperor, but a car of Jinyi Wei and Yiluan Wei.

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

】

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

After about ten minutes, a train drove into Nanjing North Railway Station again, but this time it was still Jinyiwei and Yiluanwei who came down.

This was repeated twice, until the fifth train stopped, and the Xungui led by Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, and Fan Fucui, led by Hubu Shangshu, saw Zhu Youxiao in a yellow round-necked robe.

Maybe it's because of the tiring travel, or maybe it's because he played too much with wood some time ago, in short, Zhu Youxiao is a little thinner than before.

His height of less than five feet and five inches is a little stout with a weight of more than one hundred and thirty pounds, but it also adds a bit of dominance.

"Chancellor Fan Fucui (Xu Hongji), respectfully ask St. Ann to ......"

"I'm up, get up!" Zhu Youxiao didn't step forward to help anyone, after all, there was no one here who needed him to help him personally.

With his "merits", it is not an exaggeration to say that it is far superior to the Qin Emperor and Han Wu, and it is not an exaggeration to say that the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty are larger, after all, the territory of the Apocalypse Dynasty is larger than the territory of the Qin, Han, Tang and Song dynasties combined.

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

The group left the railway station under the 15,000 soldiers and horses, and Zhu Youxiao also boarded the big chariot that had been prepared outside the train station.

Nanjing North Railway Station is actually as large as Nanjing East Railway Station and Nanjing South Railway Station, and the people also know that the emperor will be in Nanjing today, so they waited around the square early.

When Da Chen, 15,000 soldiers, horses, and officials began to move, many people in Nanjing began to watch.

As a city with a population of more than 1.7 million, there are no less than 100,000 people who watch the excitement.

The crowd of black pressure went from Nanjing North Railway Station to Guanyin Gate, the north gate of the outer city, and Zhu Youxiao had been looking at the scene outside the glass window in the car.

The sight of the crowd of people was something he had never experienced before, and when it was here, he knew why the lords liked to parade with great fanfare, because this feeling seemed to be patrolling their world every day and accepting the submission of all the people.

"What is the population of this Nanjing city? I'm afraid that the number of people who came out to watch alone is no less than 100,000, right? ”

On the big side, Zhu Youxiao opened his mouth to ask, and Wei Zhongxian, who had been prepared early, flattered and said: "Long live Hui, according to the return of the household department last month, the population of Nanjing is about 1.73 million. ”

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

Hearing this number, even Zhu Youxiao couldn't help but be speechless, but he didn't think it was amazing, after all, Nanjing covers an area of more than 370,000 acres.

If it's crowded, that's enough for six or seven million people.

However, the premise of this population is to use more than 100,000 acres of arable land and forest land in the outer city to build houses.

"How much arable land is there in Nanjing?" After Zhu Youxiao heard about the population number, he felt that the arable land in Nanjing City might have decreased.

"About 120,000 acres ......"

Not surprisingly, Wei's answer also explained how the growing population lived in Nanjing.

Because the architecture of the Ming Dynasty pays attention to the unity of nature and man, the high-rise buildings are not suitable for the people's living concept.

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

Such an area is wide and the living space is not large, but Daming itself is also vast and sparsely populated.

The population is growing so fast that if the architectural style is not changed, then the expansion of the city of Nanjing is a must.

As far as Zhu Youxiao is concerned, he has never seen any high-rise buildings, and he doesn't want to engage in any high-rise buildings.

He thinks that his younger brother is quite good in Beijing.

Therefore, after learning that Nanjing City has such a large population, he rolled his eyes and immediately said with righteousness and awe:

"The place where the people of Nanjing live is too small, and the original outer city itself is mainly hills and soil, which is not enough to protect the people."

"Spread the Nanjing Ministry of Industry Shangshu Zhang Yandeng!"

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

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

Zhang Yandeng saluted respectfully, and he had long known that the emperor would summon him.

It's just that he was thinking about discussing the repair of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, but Zhu Youxiao was not thinking about this issue.

"The outer city of Nanjing is no longer applicable, and in the seventeenth year of the dynasty, the population of Nanjing has increased so much."

"Today, I order you to take people outside the city, calculate how much manpower and material resources will be needed to expand Gaozi Town, Jurong County, Moling Pass, and Jiangning Town if the outer city is built with cement?"

"Uh...... Forehead ......" Hearing the emperor's words, Zhang Yandeng almost didn't come up in one breath.

The construction of the outer city didn't actually cost too much silver, but the circle that couldn't stand Zhu You's school circle was a bit big.

If it is really circled according to what he said, then half of Yingtianfu will be encircled into Nanjing City, and the outer city will be expanded from the current 100 li to about 300 li.

In this way, the city of Nanjing will cover an area of at least 1.3 million mu, and after enclosing so many towns, the population will also exceed 2 million.

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

That circle is not the earth, it is the life of the gentry of Tianfu......

Thinking of this, Zhang Yandeng said with a smile:

"Long live, so many lands are incorporated into the city of Nanjing, which is not conducive to management, and it will also displace many people."

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

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

"In this way, the outer city can be expanded to 200 li, covering an area of more than 700,000 acres."

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

"That's not bad......" Hearing Zhang Yandeng's words, Zhu Youxiao naturally knew that he was afraid of offending the gentry and nobles of Ying Tianfu, so he smiled and stopped demanding.

"Let's do the math and see how much silver will be needed after the expansion."

Zhu Youxiao said, and waved his hand to signal Zhang Yandeng to retreat.

Zhang Yandeng had no choice but to retire with sweat on his head, and returned to his carriage soon after.

After he left, the royal driver also arrived at the Guanyin Gate.

After entering the Guanyin Gate, the scene of the outer city of Nanjing is similar to that described in Zhu Ciran's travelogue, and there is basically no farmland in the city gates, only rows of houses and streets built over the years.

No pedestrian dares to shuttle casually on the neat and orderly road, because in the new "Da Ming Law" customized by Zhu Youzhen, if you do not take the sidewalk, you need to be dragged to the garbage dump outside the city for ten days to work if you cross the road at will.

Although the garbage in this era is basically confetti and rags, cleaning up the garbage dump for ten days is equivalent to making a person unable to work.

In ten days, he earned at least 300 wen less, and he had to provide his own food, and he also needed 100 wen if he ate poorly.

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

In addition, the sidewalks in the outer city were built to be very wide, full of 10 feet, so that the road could be widened in the future.

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

"But in my opinion, there are probably more than 1.73 million people in this Nanjing city."

Zhu Youxiao's words are grounded, because a package of 730,000 people are all registered in Nanjing, not including many migrant workers in Yingtianfu and Jiangnan.

Therefore, it is said that there are only 1.73 million, but in reality there are probably no less than 2 million.

With a population of no less than 2 million, it is inevitable that it will be said to be the largest city since the Middle Ages.

You must know that the British population at this time was only three or four million, and one Nanjing city was equal to half of the United Kingdom.

From the end of September last year to the end of September this year, the city of Nanjing, the Imperial Store and the Yingtianfu Yamen, indirectly and directly paid more than 1.4 million taels of silver.

In the case that the total commercial tax of Daming Tian is only 70 million taels, a Nanjing city occupies 2% of Daming's fiscal revenue.

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

Therefore, Zhu Youxiao's desire to expand the outer city was not a whim, but judged according to the actual situation.

When Zhu Youxiao thought so, the imperial driver also arrived at the Purple Mountain, and compared to his unobtrusive eldest son, Zhu Youxiao prepared all kinds of sacrificial supplies needed for the sacrifice.

After a simple sacrifice to Emperor Gao, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youxiao also walked the same route as Zhu Ciran 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 it collapsed, the more places he needed to build.

Thinking so, he also got off the royal car and walked around the Nanjing Imperial Palace.

I have to say that due to the tight finances after the Jiajing Dynasty, except for the small scale repair of the Nanjing Imperial Palace during the reign of Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng, the Ming Dynasty can only be said to be mending the seams at other times.

Since the city of Nanjing can only withhold 10% of the tax, the tax silver that can be used is very limited, and 3,000 taels a year is at most to maintain the palace that has not collapsed from collapsing.

Zhu Youxiao went around in a big circle, and it wasn't until it was getting late that he stopped, and said to Zhang Yandeng, who was almost prostration, in the rear:

"It won't cost five million taels to repair here, but four million taels is enough."

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

Zhang Yandeng also broke down in a cold sweat when he heard this, but Zhu Youxiao didn't bother to blame him, but said to Wei Zhongxian, who was already bitter in his heart next to him:

"Big companion, you can go to the household department another day to pay the silver, and then write back to the capital, saying that it will take at least a year and a half to complete the repair of the Nanjing Imperial Palace, so that the crown prince and the king of Qi can take care of the country."

Zhu Youxiao's face was not red and his heart was not beating when he said this, and Fan Fucui, the head of the household next to him, couldn't help but be speechless.

In the case of sufficient silver, the repair of the Nanjing Imperial Palace will take at most a year, and the emperor will open his mouth for a year and a half, obviously wanting to play more in the south of the Yangtze River.

It doesn't matter if he is Fan Fucui, but the gentry and powerful people in Jiangnan are afraid that they will not be able to sleep after learning the news.

"Slave and maid receive ......"

Wei Zhongxian squeezed out a smile that was more ugly than crying, and after Zhu Youxiao saw this smile, he thought that he didn't want to live in Nanjing, so he comforted:

"If you feel that you can't leave your hometown, then go back after these two months."

"No, no, no! Long live, slaves and maids can always be with long live, how can they feel that they can't leave their hometown? Long live you are the master of the slaves, and where you are, you are the slaves' homes. ”

"The slave just thinks that after coming out for so long, the prince will be a little tired."

Wei Zhongxian hurriedly explained, and at the same time, he couldn't help but complain in his heart.

Where does he feel that he can't leave home, he is distressed by Zhu Youxiao's knife to cut off a million taels.

The one million taels should have been no less than 500,000 taels of his silver......

Thinking about it like this, Wei Zhongxian wanted to cry even more.

Zhu Youxiao didn't think much about it when he heard this, and after patting him for comfort, he looked at Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, who had been following:

"Wei Guogong and you are tired after following for so long, let's get here first today, and I'll talk about it tomorrow."

"The Minister's Leader ......"

Seeing that the emperor was about to rest, Xu Hongji and the others did not force them to stay, to put it bluntly, they just came to brush up on their sense of existence.

Everyone knows that when it comes to matters that require benefits, what Zhu Youxiao, the emperor, said many times does not count, or he doesn't want to count.

In the words of Beijing Xungui, the emperor is slippery like a loach, and when he needs to take responsibility, he will push it to the officials below, and when it comes to sharing the benefits, he will shirk and say that he can't make the decision, and he needs to discuss with the king of Qi.

The nobles of the capital have long been accustomed to the emperor's rhetoric, and they know that to go to the king of Qi is to find scolding.

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

But if this kind of topic is spoken, King Qi is often the same: "If you need to continue the title, you will go to the battlefield, and it doesn't count if you say it alone!" ”

One sentence blocked what the nobles wanted to say, and in the long run, the nobles in Beijing would only have to cultivate their children and grandchildren with their hearts.

If you can't cultivate it, you will be handed over to the official school for training, and in the back, most of the nobles feel that they are not as good as the official school, so it has become the norm for the nobles to send their children to the official school.

As for the emperor...... The nobles have long stopped counting on him to call the shots......