The native of the Tang Empire

Planned new capital, Chaoge (Philadelphia)

After two and a half years of large-scale infrastructure construction, the whole city of Chaoge (Philadelphia) has reached a new level, the main roads of the city are wider and cleaner, and the high-rise buildings along the banks of the Schuylkill River have greatly raised the city skyline, showing the magnificent side of the bustling city.

Today, the city of Asaha (Philadelphia) is still a large construction site, the fringes of this million-person metropolis are rapidly expanding, the population is rapidly increasing, and the successive transfer of imperial government departments has increased its significant influence.

The total population of Asaka City (Philadelphia) reached 1,476,000 in June 189-8, making it one of the fastest-growing cities among the Empire's thirteen million-dollar cities.

Now

After a period of verbal disputes, the imperial press gradually unified the old imperial capital of Chang'an (San Francisco) as the "Western Capital", Washington as the "Eastern Capital", and the new imperial capital Chaoge (Philadelphia) as the "Central Capital".

In the New Imperial Capital of Song City (Philadelphia), McQuett Street and Bruder Avenue in the core central plaza are the east-west and north-south thoroughfares, and these two main roads have now been renamed.

The easternmost part of MacKate Avenue rises a tall Arc de Triomphe, a huge landmark of the new Imperial Capital of Song City (Philadelphia), so McCheating Avenue was renamed Triumph Avenue.

The north-south Bruder Avenue was renamed Glory Avenue, and the most iconic feature is that the Royal Janissary Army, a total of 18 divisions, placed its veterans' clubs on both sides of Glory Avenue, and each club occupied a large area.

These Glory Corps of the Royal Praetorian Guard, which has followed His Majesty the Holy Emperor for more than 50 years, have added infinite glory and brilliance to this imperial capital avenue.

It's worth clarifying;

On both sides of the 29.6-kilometer-long Glory Avenue, there are also 5 institutions of higher learning, 23 churches, 7 temples, 3 Taoist temples and 11 large and medium-sized hospitals.

At the southernmost end of the Avenue of Glory, the former Fairmont Park, which covers more than 1,600 hectares, is now the new heart of the empire.

Over here

The Imperial Parliament building rises from the ground, along with 21 large government buildings, including the official residence of the Prime Minister, known as the "Palace of the Clouds".

Why did it become the Palace of the Clouds?

Because the official residence of the Prime Minister stands on a gentle low hill at an altitude of 79 meters, coupled with the three-story Han and Tang Dynasty palace-style buildings, the total height exceeds 100 meters.

From a distance, it looks like it's straight into the sky.

Originally, the Imperial Cabinet Prime Minister's Mansion did not want to be repaired so much, and it was almost compared to the New Imperial Palace, which was only a few kilometers away, which was very arrogant.

However, after His Majesty the Holy Emperor saw the design drawings, he personally designated the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Cabinet to take the "Yunxiao Palace" as the core, the Imperial Parliament Building, the Imperial Supreme Court, the Imperial Supreme Public Prosecutor's Office, the Royal Army Headquarters, the Royal Navy Headquarters, the Royal Praetorian Guard Headquarters, the Imperial Treasury and a series of central institutions, lined up along both sides of the Yunxiao Palace, forming a series of Han and Tang style towering palace buildings.

The new imperial palace is located in a forest several kilometers away, on the shore of a lake, and its construction is much smaller and more low-key than the Daming Palace.

There are 7 small lakes in the new palace, the larger ones cover an area of dozens of acres, and the smaller ones cover an area of several acres, all of which add up to less than one-seventh of the Taiye Pond of the original Daming Palace.

But these small lakes are better in the scenery, one step at a time, very Jiangnan garden charm, and even the Taihu Lake stone used in the garden is transported from the Qing Dynasty for thousands of miles, and tens of thousands of tons are used in total.

In the new palace, there is no Wanshou (note, homonym beast) mountain, which covers an extremely wide area, but the three major halls, the east, west palace and the north palace, which are still under large-scale infrastructure construction.

If you really want to talk about the number of palaces, the new palace is not much less than the Daming Palace, about 7 and a half times the former.

However, without the extremely extensive Taiye Pond and Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, the layout of the new palace is more compact and low-key, and most of the palaces and pavilions are hidden in the lush forest trees, which looks very inconspicuous.

The palace area is not accessible to the general public, because one side of the palace is bordered by the wide Schuylkill River, which is hidden by lush forests, and from the river, you can only occasionally see the corner of the golden palace cornices and arches, and you cannot peek into the whole picture.

On the other side of the front street of the palace is the vast lake covering an area of hundreds of acres, along which is a series of noble mansions built by the royal internal affairs office, a total of 49 large and small, which will be used to reward the emperor's grandchildren in the future.

The new palace is very low-key, which is also in line with His Majesty's original intention of elevating the status of the cabinet and suppressing the royal family's right to speak, and gradually move closer to the British constitutional monarchy.

Just a short distance from the palace is the very low-key Imperial House Building, which is a very large complex of buildings, almost a small government, but more inclined to financial holding investment.

After 10 years of development, the Eight Funds of the Royal Home Office have become a deep-rooted behind-the-scenes holding consortium, and the shadow of the Royal Fund can be seen behind almost all major corporate consortiums in the empire.

It's just that over the years, according to His Majesty the Holy Emperor's instructions, it has become more and more low-key, and the names of the eight major royal funds cannot be seen from the list of shareholders of many listed companies.

This is because the Royal Eight Funds have registered many companies and then used these companies to hold shares, so the existence of the Royal Eight Funds cannot be seen on the financial statements, but the huge annual dividend benefits and control have not decreased at all.

In the political and economic fields, the comprehensive weakening of the royal presence was the personal deployment of Emperor Richard, and it was naturally implemented to the letter.

But anyway

The royal family of the Tang Empire will not be reduced to a ceremonial mascot like the British royal family, and the most critical one is because of the existence of the powerful Royal Janissary.

This is a powerful force comparable to the Royal Army, with unquestionable control over the area around the old and new imperial capitals, and the military power is much stronger than that of the Royal Army (note, this only refers to the above-mentioned areas).

As long as he wants, this powerful military force controlled by the royal control of the Tang Empire can subvert the government and the upper echelons of the army and navy at any time, leaving him with no place to die.

From another point of view

The high-ranking nobles of the empire are basically under the control of the royal guards, so why are their children and families not hostages?

Through this veil, the imperial family of the Tang Empire can firmly control the political situation and make it evolve according to its own will, rather than being led by the imperial government.

Unlike the Royal Army, most of the officers of the Royal Guard come from traditional military aristocratic families, inheriting a brainless fanatical worship of the royal family, and the atmosphere of loyalty to the royal family is extremely strong.

Arguably, most of the most ardent royal loyalists are in the Royal Janissary.

For example, in Chicago and Detroit, retired veterans who worship royalty madly, their children choose the Royal Guard for military service to pass on the glory of generations.

It has evolved to the third generation of young people to serve in the Royal Janissaries, forming a tradition of passing from father to son and from son to grandchild.

The royal family was generous to these fanatical diehards, and most of the retired soldiers were better resettled and given priority.

Either you work as a low-level clerk in the government department, or you can get a stable and high salary and a decent job in the police or in large companies, factories, royal charity hospitals and schools.

In this regard, it is much stronger than the average Royal Army soldier who has retired.

And so on

This has formed a social phenomenon in which the soldiers of the Royal Janissary are superior to others, and every year recruits are actively recruited, and often among five or six or even more people, only one outstanding person can be selected.

It was customary for the Royal Janissary to recruit new recruits and give preference to the children of military families who had been passed down from generation to generation, as a reward for their generational loyalty.

Today, Fairmont Park is still a large construction site, where tens of thousands of workers work day and night as tall buildings rise from the ground.

The main buildings of the various government departments are roughly taking shape, and will basically be delivered by the end of this year or the middle of next year in order to welcome the arrival of the imperial government departments.

Some personnel from various departments of the imperial government have arrived in the new imperial capital of Chaoge City (Philadelphia) first, and more functional departments will be settled in this year and next.

According to the construction period

The new office buildings of the various departments of the imperial government will be fully delivered by the end of next year, and will be officially opened at the beginning of the new century.

The new palace will be a long-term construction project that will last for more than a decade or even more due to the more numerous and cumbersome construction projects, but it can also be the first to open at the beginning of the new century.

Because the three major halls and the East Palace are in full swing under construction, there is another three years of construction time, and most of them can be completed and can welcome the Holy Driver into the main palace.

Some subsequent French-style palaces, baroque palaces, constant temperature basements, treasure pavilions and other buildings in the West Palace area that took a long time can be continuously built in the future.

At the end of June at the beginning of summer

Emperor Richard arrived in the new imperial capital of Chaoge City (Philadelphia) and inspected the Yunxiao Palace and a number of government buildings under construction, as well as the new imperial palace under construction, and expressed general satisfaction with the current construction progress.

However, he also made new requirements.

The new imperial capital of Song City (Philadelphia) cannot only have a few landmark buildings such as the Arc de Triomphe and the Sky Palace, but also needs more iconic buildings.

For example, the unprecedented height of the Bell and Drum Tower, the octagonal 21-storey Sky Pagoda on the banks of the Schuylkir River, the unprecedented scale of the royal monasteries, the large iron bridge across the Schuylkir River, the Second and Third Ring Roads and the upstream reservoir should all be included in the construction plan of the new imperial capital.

So

The new imperial capital Chaoge City (Philadelphia) is about to set off a new round of construction boom, which will greatly change the original appearance of Chaoge City (Philadelphia) at the same time, comprehensively improve the city's grade, and will soon be on par with the first-class metropolises Chang'an, Los Angeles and New York, becoming one of the top metropolises in the empire.

The Tang Empire is not short of money, and the imperial family is not short of money. The unprecedented scale of the royal temple, the Taoist temple and the 21-storey octagonal exquisite pagoda can be funded from the royal interior office, adding new landmark buildings to the imperial capital.

The new Royal Museum, the Royal Charity Hospital, and the Royal Chagae University can all be on the planning agenda and construction work can be carried forward according to the plan.

Anyway, if you have money and willfulness, you can spend it freely and promote a large number of urban image projects.

(End of chapter)