I Am the Grandson of the Second Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Earning 100 Million Taels at the Beginn

Chapter 231 It turns out that the grandson of the emperor is also a grandson.

Yongle December 15th.

Goose feather snow fell from the sky.

Wrapped like a ball, Zhu Zhangui kept blowing hot air into his hands, standing outside the majestic Forbidden City, which was more than half built.

"With this smell, it's no wonder that the people living in it live longer!"

Slightly sniffing his nose, the strong smell of cinnabar mixed with various ingredients came to his face, making Zhu Zhangui cough again and again.

Last month, Zhu Zhangui handed over a batch of horses to the old man. Zhu Zhangui looked at the second uncle with sympathetic snot bubbles. He left the Hetao area and took his guards to catch up. .

When we got halfway, the goose feather and heavy snow fell from the sky.

In the middle of the night, the entire land of Jianghe was covered in silver.

By the time he arrived at Beiping City, the snow on the ground had already covered his calves.

This is still in the northerly direction, and if you go further north, it is estimated that no one can leave.

But time does not wait for me, even in this weather, Zhu Zhangui must rush to the north as soon as possible, make defensive preparations, and wait for the arrival of Alutai and others.

"See Your Highness!"

The officials who supervised the construction ran over and fell to the ground regardless of the snow on the ground.

Although it was still snowing heavily, the construction of the Forbidden City still did not stop.

Unable to work from the outside, artisans build inside.

Zhu Zhangui nodded, glanced at the Forbidden City with the sound of ping-pong-pong.

"Announce it, stop the project, let everyone rest for one night, and call everyone tomorrow, I have something to say!"

"This…"

The supervisory officials were a little embarrassed. The emperor urged the construction of the Forbidden City many times, but it stopped suddenly. It was difficult for them to explain to the emperor.

If the emperor blames it, the grandson who gave the order will be fine, and they will be in trouble.

Seeing the embarrassment of the officials, Zhu Zhangui frowned.

"Didn't the people I sent earlier inform you?"

The official shook his head quickly, submissively speaking.

"I have already been here, but the project is very tight, and there is no imperial decree from the emperor, we dare not make a decision!"

"Bastard, His Royal Highness doesn't listen to orders, are you courting death!"

A guard roared, drew his gun and pointed it at the officer about to pull the trigger.

In their minds, Zhu Zhangui is their heaven and their god.

If you don't obey Zhu Zhangui's order, you are going against the will of heaven and God, and you deserve to die.

Zhu Zhangui raised his hand and pressed down the guard's gun.

He is back to his senses.

Beiping is not as good as Jinling.

Although the officials here know him, they have never had contact with him, and they don't know how important he is in the old man's mind.

Coupled with the project of the Forbidden City, the old man is really pressing, it is normal for these people to hesitate.

Taking out the token that the old man gave him, Zhu Zhangui looked at the official.

"Is this enough?"

"The minister leads the order!"

Seeing the token, the official quickly fell to his knees again.

Withdrawing the token, Zhu Zhangui strode into the Forbidden City which was still under construction.

The construction site is very messy, with construction materials everywhere.

Some craftsmen were wearing single clothes, their faces were blue from the cold, and because they had to work, their hands were exposed, and many of them were rotten from the cold.

Even the serious hand has been swollen out of shape.

Zhu Zhangui frowned and inspected the entire Forbidden City all the way, not letting go of any corner.

For the officials who followed, many of them were sweating coldly on their foreheads in this snowy day.

As Zhu Zhangui's expression became colder and colder, some people's legs began to tremble.

After several years of construction, the Forbidden City has roughly taken shape.

The construction of the West Palace has been completed, and only the final adjustments are left.

In his previous life, Zhu Zhangui had never been to the Forbidden City, but he had seen some of it on film and television.

But the Forbidden City he saw was very different from the Forbidden City in later generations of film and television.

Perhaps because of many revisions in later generations, the Forbidden City has changed somewhat from its original appearance.

The Forbidden City at this time is more magnificent than later generations.

Several tall palaces have hardly been heard of in later generations.

Zhu Zhangui once remembered that it was reported in the news that in history, after the construction of the Forbidden City was completed, several palaces were struck by lightning and burned down.

Later, several consecutive reconstructions were struck by lightning. The ancients felt that this was a warning from the heavens, so they did not build any more, or directly reduced the original area and volume.

Glancing at several leading officials behind him, Zhu Zhangui said to one of them.

"The lightning protection work of the major palaces must be done well. I will send the top craftsmen from Jinling to take charge of this. When the time comes, you can go and receive them. You can send people to cooperate with how they pretend to be."

"Sir, obey!"

The official was stunned for a moment. He didn't understand that all the bosses were there, so why did he find him as his deputy?

But since Taisun said it, then obey orders honestly.

Several leading officials glanced at the pair of hands and walked forward with a smile.

"Your Highness, do you live in the built palace, or live outside the palace?"

Zhu Zhangui glanced at him, turned around and left directly.

He feels bad luck talking to a dying person.

The official who was left in place had an embarrassed expression, but he didn't dare to get angry, so he could only follow quickly.

When Zhu Zhangui was leaving, the busy craftsmen had already received orders and began to go to work one after another to the place of residence.

Zhu Zhangui said to Hu Yu, "I'll give you some cotton clothes and food later, and you take people to the artisan camp and distribute them to them!"

After finishing speaking, Zhu Zhangui flicked his horsewhip, ignoring the officials who walked out, and went to the temporary residence.

When it was dark, there were bursts of cheers and gratitude from the artisan camp.

While the craftsmen were cheering and grateful, there were bursts of begging for mercy and grievances from the place where the officials lived.

Day 2 morning.

The laborers and craftsmen, who were wearing cotton-padded clothes and had a full meal, were arranged by a group of newly arrived soldiers in an untidy queue and gathered in a huge open space.

Although it is said in history that millions of people were used to build the Forbidden City.

In fact, these are just the overall numbers, which also include the number of people who felled wood and collected stones.

At this time, the laborers are all corvee workers. When this batch is up, the next batch will be replaced.

Apart from those professional craftsmen, there are only tens of thousands of laborers working at the same time.

According to Zhu Zhangui's investigation of the number of people last night.

Since many parts of the Forbidden City have been repaired, the number of laborers working now is only a little over 5.

"Everyone is quiet, don't talk!"

Craftsmen are ordinary people after all, and their quality cannot be compared with that of the army.

With so many people together, it is inevitable that there will be whispered discussions.

It's nothing for one or two people to talk, but tens of thousands of people talking quietly together, it's like gathering a lot of flies, buzzing non-stop.

The officers and soldiers of the Shenji Battalion maintaining order could only yell loudly over and over again, and no one was allowed to speak.

That is to say, these people must be used, otherwise they would have been kicked with their violent temper.

"Everyone be quiet, His Royal Highness is here!"

Suddenly there was a shout.

The sound was so loud that the laborers and craftsmen looked at the direction of the sound in astonishment.

Whose voice is so loud.

After seeing that it was the official who gave them clothes and food last night, everyone immediately shut up.

People give food and clothing, isn't it reasonable to listen to what they say?
He is a member of the imperial court, if he speaks again and offends them, he might be beheaded.

Hu Yu, who was shouting with the horn with the guards, withdrew the horn with a cold expression.

Zhu Zhangui strode towards a temporary staircase.

Looking at the artisans and laborers who formed a large circle around the steps with puzzled and indifferent expressions, or closed their eyes and pretended to be sleeping, Zhu Zhangui showed a warm smile.

After taking Hu Yu's horn, Zhu Zhangui turned the power to the maximum.

"Let me introduce myself. My surname is Zhu. I am the Zhu you imagined. My name is Zhangui. I am the grandson of the current emperor, that is, the grandson of our emperor."

Zhu Zhangui's down-to-earth opening introduction immediately aroused the interest of the craftsmen and brought the relationship between the two closer.

"Although I am the emperor's grandson, in fact we are all similar. Our family is also from a farming family. My great-grandfather, also known as Emperor Taizu, also planted land."

"That's why our old man told me that we must treat the people well, strictly supervise all officials, and figure out who is our own."

"Our old Zhu's family is also from poor peasants, and the relationship with the common people is the closest. Those who are officials are only doing long-term jobs for us common people."

"Hahaha…"

Zhu Zhangui's humorous conversation made the craftsmen with different expressions relax.

When Zhu Zhangui said that the officials are just doing long-term jobs for us ordinary people, there was even more laughter below.

While everyone was laughing, Zhu Zhangui walked to the edge of the steps and sat down, facing a middle-aged man in a military coat.

"Uncle, are these clothes warm!"

Zhu Zhangui's old uncle made the man instantly nervous and waved his hands quickly.

"I can't, I can't, you are the son of a daughter, I... I... I can't bear this title."

"Hahaha…"

Zhu Zhangui laughed, pointed at the middle-aged man, and smiled at the people around him.

"Look at this old man. I said just now that we are all farmers. When I called him old man, he said he couldn't bear it. It seems that this old man wants to work for us as a long-term worker, and become an official!"

"Hahaha…"

In an instant, there was another burst of laughter.

The middle-aged man's face turned red from being teased, and he faltered nervously, unable to speak.

Zhu Zhangui smiled and comforted him.

"Don't be nervous, old man, I'm a little nervous too!"

"Ha ha!"

There was another burst of laughter.

"Uncle, let me ask you something!"

The man rubbed his hands nervously and kept nodding.

"You have been here for several years!"

The middle-aged man thought for a while and replied, "It's been three years!"

Zhu Zhangui then asked.

"How was it when you first came here, did you dress warmly and eat enough?"

The middle-aged man nodded quickly.

"It was okay when I first came here. Although the clothes are not good, they won't freeze us. If we eat, we will be [-]% full. After all, we are too full to work!"

Zhu Zhangui asked again.

"Then when did the clothes start to get thinner and the food start to decrease?"

Hearing this question, many people below gritted their teeth.

The man recalled: "It started last year!"

"It was better the year before last. I heard from some old masters that it was because the emperor often paid attention to this place at that time, so we just ate well and dressed warmly."

"But the emperor was not at home last year, so he didn't pay attention to our side often, and our clothes and rations were reduced."

"When winter started this year, the winter clothes that were supposed to be distributed were said to have been confiscated by the army. They were not distributed to us, and we were asked to deal with them with hay and leaves."

The more the man talked, the more aggrieved he felt. Thinking that he was the grandson of the emperor in front of him, and he was so easy to talk, he would turn to them and would not cover up those officials, so the man continued to talk directly.

"In the second half of last year, we could still eat 5% full. But after the beginning of spring this year, they said that the imperial court was short of food and had to feed the soldiers fighting outside, so our rations have dropped to [-]% since then. Arrived In winter, they said that the prairie people in the north invaded again, and directly dropped it to [-]% for us."

When the man said this, a young man who couldn't hold his breath next to him said angrily.

"His Royal Highness, you don't know, but they still mix stones and sand in it, saying it's four floors, and after removing the sand and stones, it's only about [-]%!"

"The imperial court sent people to investigate, but they didn't let us talk about it."

"We can go back in the spring of next year. They said that if we talk nonsense, they will have a way to punish us after we go back!"

"So every time the imperial court sends people to investigate the situation here, we don't dare to speak nonsense, we can only speak according to their instructions."

Zhu Zhangui nodded angrily with a look of sympathy.

Then it turned into a grievance meeting.

Some craftsmen even revealed some inside stories.

For example, in some unimportant places, the original good materials have become slightly inferior.

Some of the original three-component foundations have also been reduced in some materials.

These people don't pay too much, just a little bit.

But add up a little bit from east to west, and this number is quite a lot.

When the inquiry was almost over, Zhu Zhangui waved to the bottom.

A group of brocade guards pressed dozens of people in unlined clothes, with disheveled hair and wounds all over their bodies, to the steps.

Zhu Zhangui looked down at the labor craftsmen.

"Are you talking about these people!"

Seeing that the supervisory officials who used to be aloof have now become prisoners, the workers and craftsmen feel refreshed.

The middle-aged uncle was excited.

"There are some we don't know, but the people I mentioned are indeed among them, and some supervisors are not here, and they are not good birds, and they often bully us!"

Zhu Zhangui stretched out his hand to press down, calming everyone's emotions.

After everyone quieted down, Zhu Zhangui raised the horn and said loudly.

"Don't worry, everyone, none of what you said will escape."

Pointing to the officials of Jin Yiwei who were on the ground, Zhu Zhangui said in a loud voice: "Not only these guys, but also their family members, these guys who lie on our common people to eat meat and drink blood, none of them can escape!"

"My great-grandfather's methods of dealing with corrupt officials must be clear to you, and I can also tell you responsibly that my grandfather will not be lenient when dealing with these corrupt officials either!"

"Dare to bully our honest and simple people, and you are against our entire Ming Dynasty. This kind of scum and scum is a cancer of the Ming Dynasty. If we don't kill them, we won't be able to sleep."

"it is good!"

The workers and craftsmen cheered for a while, accusing those officials of swearing and venting their long-standing grievances and depression.

(End of this chapter)