After Liu Xie left, the ceremony was officially over.

The old royals are coming to an end, and the new royals are on the stage of history, ready to play their part.

A little later, Liu Bei and his family came to their new residence.

The original General's Mansion is no longer in residence, only six departments are still working, and Liu Bei has moved to the palace with his family.

The Eastern Han Imperial Palace is called the North Palace.

During the Qin Dynasty, the North Palace already existed, and later destroyed in the war, Emperor Yongping of the Han Ming Dynasty rebuilt in three years, and was completed in the eighth year of Yongping, with a length of about 1,500 meters from north to south, a width of about 1,200 meters from east to west, and an area of about 1.8 million square meters.

There are East Palace, West Palace, Changle Palace and Changxin Palace in the North Palace, which are used as the emperor's palace, the emperor's bedroom, and the palace where the empress dowager and the empress dowager live.

The East Palace is the palace courtyard of the Imperial Palace, and there are Zhangtai Hall and Zhangtai Gate in the south of the main hall Chongde Hall, which is generally the place to deal with state affairs, and most of the official institutions located in the Imperial Palace are also here, and the Son of Heaven deals with government affairs and meets with ministers here.

The west palace is the emperor's bedroom, so its main hall Deyang Hall is also said to be in the north palace in the courtyard, there is the end door in front, there are also halls such as Hande Palace, Tianlu Palace, Wen Yu Palace, Yingchun Palace, Yongning Hall and Chongzheng Palace, and the palace courtyard Yongle Palace where the Queen Mother lives, is in the northwest of the Deyang Palace.

After Liu Bei's family moved in, the West Palace became their residence, the main hall Deyang Hall became the new residence of Liu Bei and Han Ning, and the rest of the palaces such as Hande Palace, Tianlu Palace, and Wen Qi Hall were given by Liu Bei to the rest of the concubines to live in.

And Liu Bei's mother lived in Yongle Palace as the queen mother.

Because of the rush of time, many living places are not well prepared, some are messy, and some are dirty.

Liu Bei instructed Zhang Rang to send someone to rectify the Yongle Palace first, so that his mother could live comfortably in it, and then rectify the Deyang Palace and other palaces.

Watching the eunuchs and palace maids busily tidying up the huge palace, her mother, like Han Ning, was in a trance as if she was in a different world.

"We're going to be royal?"

"That's how I ...... Became a queen? ”

The two women looked at the huge palace in distraction, as if they had not been able to accept the fact that they had become the two most noble women in the world for a while.

Liu Bei is not used to it, anyway, he has already been a de facto emperor, but he does not live in the palace.

This palace is bigger, more spacious, and needs to walk more, simply where to live comfortably, Liu Bei feels that this palace is not as comfortable as the general's mansion.

And the palace is bigger, it will take more people to take care of it, spend more money and more effort to maintain, and the expenditure will be a lot, which is a big challenge for Liu Bei, who is used to a simple life.

Taking advantage of the fact that his mother and Han Ning had regained their normal state of mind, Liu Bei took the Tiger Guards and Zhang Rang to wander around the palace where the emperor lived, thinking about finding any places that did not need to be used, so they sealed them, and there were too many places in the province to send people to maintain them, but he never set foot in them.

That's a waste.

Walking around, Liu Bei found a few more remote palaces, and felt that he would not come in the future, so he ordered Zhang Rang to seal these places and not let people come over again.

After shopping for half an hour, Liu Bei and his party walked to the gate of the West Garden.

Looking at the main gate of the West Garden, which had not changed much, Liu Bei suddenly returned to more than ten years ago, back to the moment when he risked his life to single-handedly ask Zhang Zhong to let Zhao Zhong and break into the West Garden to find Liu Hong.

Nostalgic emotions welled up in his heart, and Liu Bei walked to the gate of the West Garden by himself, turning his head to look at Zhang Rang.

"Remember here, you tried to cover my mouth, I grabbed your hands and taught you not to move, and then the emperor opened the door, right?"

Zhang Rang's face was a little embarrassed.

"At that time, His Majesty was still very young."

"I'm not old now, and I can live for decades."

Liu Bei stepped forward, pushed open the main entrance of the West Garden, stood at the door and looked in, only to see a bleak and dilapidated scene, which was completely different from the lush and prosperous scene that he saw at the beginning.

He couldn't help but sigh.

Yes, after Liu Hong died, he closed the West Garden on the grounds that it cost a lot of money, moved out all the things that wasted money, and then auctioned them in the circle of the powerful, and sold those rare beasts, flowers and plants for a good price.

It can be regarded as an end to Liu Hong's extravagant behavior.

Since then, no one has ever lived in the West Garden, only some eunuchs have cleaned and repaired it regularly, so it is very clean, but it is difficult to hide the dilapidated color.

Liu Bei took a step and walked inside, and as he walked, he recalled that he had followed the brightly dressed palace maid here more than ten years ago, and it seemed that everything at that time could still be reproduced in front of him.

Standing in front of the gate of the main palace of the West Garden, he suddenly felt that the man who made him feel very complicated was still in the lobby in front of him, lying in a very dissolute posture, enjoying the beautiful music, while closing his eyes and resting his mind, completely ignoring the fact that the dancers were doing their best to dance flamboyantly, trying to please him.

At that time, he was so comfortable and happy.

It is precisely because of this that Liu Bei does not want this expensive palace to continue to exist.

"I remember that there was a widespread rumor in the market at that time, saying that there was a special swimming pool in the West Garden, and the first emperor liked to swim in the summer, especially with the palace maids, but this is the case?"

Liu Bei turned his head to look at Zhang Rang.

"It is true."

Zhang Rang said slowly: "When the heat is unbearable, the first emperor will swim in the pool with the palace maid to relieve the heat, which is also a beautiful thing, what Your Majesty said, it is ......."

"It's not that much, don't think about it, I don't like to swim."

Liu Bei stood at the door of the main hall and looked in, and said slowly: "Lao Zhang, do you say that every emperor thinks about poverty and luxury, regardless of the world's major affairs, as long as he is happy?" ”

Zhang Rang blinked.

"Some emperors are like this, but an emperor like Your Majesty will definitely not be like this."

Liu Bei looked at Zhang Rang with a smile.

"Most of your kung fu is in this mouth, and other aspects are mediocre, but you're not a stupid person, worthy of my reminder to you for so many years, Lao Zhang, in the future, only the two of us will get together, don't fall behind."

"Yes."

Zhang Rang wiped the fine beads of sweat on his forehead, and didn't dare to say a word about anything else.

Liu Bei shook his head, turned around and left the West Garden, and stopped when he stepped out of the gate of the West Garden Palace.

"It's such a spacious palace, it's a waste if you don't use it, it's useless, it's not a serious use, and it will inevitably not be restarted by unscrupulous descendants in the future, isn't it a good thing, Lao Zhang, what do you think can be used here for? Is there any suitable serious use? ”

"Serious use?"

Zhang Rang said slowly: "This is the place where the first emperor played, lived and enjoyed the coolness, the palace is fully equipped, the place is also spacious, and it can accommodate a lot of people, but if you really want to say that there is any serious use...... It seems that there is no shortage of serious places in the palace......"

Zhang Rang frowned and couldn't think of a reason, Liu Bei thought for a moment, but suddenly had a special idea.

"Say, how about we transform this place into a central kitchen for the entire palace? The central kitchen was in a small and cramped place, and I have heard complaints more than once that the place was too small to be adequate.

Now this West Garden is empty and empty, so many palaces and houses, so many open spaces, and even such a large pool, isn't it a special waste not to use it? It would be better to turn it into a central kitchen, and call the cooks to come and cook for everyone.

You see, those palaces can be used as kitchens, many vacant houses can be used for people to live in, and they can also store food, so many vacant spaces used to be planted with flowers and plants, but now they are all opened up for planting vegetables and melons and fruits, and don't swim in the pools, and raise fish to eat, what do you say? ”

Zhang Rang was stunned.

"Fish farming?"

His mind couldn't help but recall the way Liu Hong and the beauties in the palace frolicked here many years ago, and then imagined the scene of fish farming in this pond......

It seems to be a little ......

Wonderful?

But in the end, Liu Bei brought it up, looking at Liu Bei's excited look, Zhang Rang swallowed the words back into his stomach sensibly, changed his rhetoric, and said with a smile: "You are right, raise fish, just raise fish, fish farming is very good, fish is particularly delicious!" ”

"Right? Not only can you raise fish, but also raise poultry, pigs or something, such a large open space is not too wasteful, and raising ingredients by yourself, you can also save the expenditure needed for cooking, you can save a little is a little, and it is not easy to make money. ”

Liu Bei snapped his fingers and smiled: "Plant some vegetables and fruits, raise some chickens, ducks, fish and pigs, and then turn this place into a central kitchen, and rebuild the main hall into a big canteen, so that everyone can come here to eat, if I am busy, I can also come here to eat, don't you think it's good?" ”

"That'...... That's true...... It's really good. ”

Zhang Rang squeezed out a smile: "As long as you think you can, that's fine, then do it......"

Liu Bei nodded.

"Well, Lao Zhang, this matter is handed over to you, you go to Zhen Yan, and spend a sum of money from Shaofu to rebuild the West Garden, you are familiar with the West Garden, and I can rest assured that you will do things."

Zhang Rang saw that he had another errand, and he didn't know whether to be happy or speechless.

The luxurious place used by the first emperor to enjoy the cool and enjoy the cool was tossed into a central kitchen for Liu Bei, and he also had to raise pigs......

That's enough.

Zhang Rang didn't say anything more, who made Liu Bei the master here now?

After going around, I returned to Deyang Palace, it was time for dinner, this was the first dinner after the Liu family entered the palace, and the whole family had arrived, just waiting for Liu Bei to come back and greet the meal.

In addition to Han Ning being named the queen, Liu Bei's other concubines were also named nobles by him.

During the period of Wang Mang, he reformed the system and produced three wives, nine concubines, twenty-seven wives, and eighty-one royal wives, and the entire harem was huge in scale and had a large number of establishments, with a full 120 people.

In the period of Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, in order to live a simple life, the concubine system of the Western Han Dynasty and the Xinmang period was changed to only the fourth class.

Nobles, beauties, palace people, and women.

Nobles, gold seals and purple ribbons, only dozens of hu, beauties, palace people, and maidens, no rank, only have some rewards for living when they are young.

On the whole, the number of concubines of the Eastern Han Dynasty emperor is not large, especially so many emperors who died before they reached adulthood, and there will be no concubines at all, so Liu Bei's concubines are already relatively large in number.

Because they are all people who accompany them, Liu Bei also wants to maintain the harmony of the backyard, so he has given everyone a nobleman, and no other ranks.

Not to mention whether there will be new people entering the palace in the future, anyway, at present, only their family lives in this huge palace, and the eunuchs and palace maids who serve have been laid off by more than 90% in a wave of cleaning and careful selection, so the entire palace seems empty.

According to Zhang Rang's statistics, the number of eunuchs and palace maids serving in the palace is only four hundred.

At the dinner table, Liu Bei talked about this matter and decided to hand it over to Han Ning to operate.

"There is indeed a need for some popularity in the court, whether it is a eunuch or a woman, you can recruit some, you have to recruit those who are hardworking and willing to work, who are quick with hands and feet, come in and work more, chew less tongue, and leave this matter to the queen to supervise."

Liu Bei looked at Han Ning with a smile and winked at her.

"Queen, may this be done?"

"Do you dare to complete the task assigned by Your Majesty?"

At this time, Han Ning also recovered some of his spirit, became a little less confused, and began to cautiously uphold his identity as the queen, and began to be the master of the harem in a decent manner.

"That's very good, this time you can recruit more people, seven or eight hundred people can also be, in short, let there be more people in the palace, such a big place, someone always needs to clean it."

Liu Bei patted Han Ning's hand: "I, the emperor, was busy with government affairs in the previous dynasty, and the palace courtyards behind this will all be handed over to the queen to manage." ”

"Hmm."

Han Ning nodded.

So Liu Bei looked at the rest of the nobles again.

"You are all people who have been with me for a few years, I trust you enough, and I don't have too many requirements, except for respecting the Queen Mother and the Empress, there is no difference from the past, I used to live in a small courtyard, and now I live in a big courtyard, my identity is different, and the essence has not changed.

Of course, you should also pay attention to the changes in your identity, some things that you could do in the past are now inconvenient, whether it is for the people around you or for your family, you must be cautious, and, especially importantly, you cannot interfere in the government affairs of the previous dynasty. ”

When he said this, Liu Bei was very serious and didn't look like he was joking.

The concubines also understand this truth very well.

Since Empress Lu became the system, the emperors of the Han family have been more sensitive to the politics of the harem, and there are many restrictions on the queen and the queen's family, as well as restrictions on the interaction between the concubines and the outside world.

Despite this, because of the prevalence of marriages, the lack of legal provisions, and the worrisome life expectancy of the little emperors, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, harem politics still caused a lot of chaos in the previous dynasty.

Therefore, Liu Bei plans to rectify it from the source, establish the matter of the harem not being allowed to interfere in politics as politically correct, and resolutely put an end to the confusion of family affairs and state affairs.

(End of chapter)