Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 33 Jinling Neighborhood
"Screw rustle..."

At night, when the sound of dusk drums completely stopped, the only people in Nanjing who could still walk on the streets were the soldiers of the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division and the soldiers of the Twelve Guards.

When the soldiers were marching in groups, Zhu Gaoxu stood out alone.

Because of this, many soldiers on the road came forward to question him even though they saw him wearing Habayashi Zuowei's armor.

Some soldiers with lower official positions quickly complained after seeing the bronze medal of Baihu, while those with higher official positions asked him why he was still wandering on the street.

However, when they knew Zhu Gaoxu's identity, they all confessed and handed the bronze medal back with both hands, their faces full of nervousness, for fear that Zhu Gaoxu would reprimand them.

These actions gave Zhu Gaoxu a further understanding of his identity.

In the Ming Dynasty, his status as future county king meant that he was superior to others and the top of the class pyramid.

Theoretically speaking, as long as he did not rebel, even the emperor could not kill him.

However, this theory only applies to Zhu Yuanzhang who formulated him. Once Zhu Yuanzhang dies and Zhu Yunwen takes over, history will still repeat itself.

"squeak……"

Walking back to his residence, Zhu Gaoxu took off his helmet after opening the door, turned around and closed the door.

Looking at the dark courtyard, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know what to say. He just used the moonlight to return to the study, lit the candle with a fire stick, and then began to take off his armor.

He didn't bother to lie down because the day's load was not that tiring for him.

He placed the armor on the table, fetched a basin of water, prepared two coarse rags, soaked one in the basin and wring it out, then wiped the armor's nails.

After the wiping was completed and the armor was dry, he used another rag to apply a little oil on it and took care of it.

After all this was done, he placed the armor on the armor stand.

Since he had eaten at Duke Ying's mansion, he was not hungry, so he came to the courtyard holding a lamp.

There was firewood prepared by the Governor's Mansion in the kitchen, and he skillfully lit the fire and boiled the water. After being busy for two quarters of an hour, he took a hot bath in the yard, and then slowly fell asleep from exhaustion.

When he woke up the next day, it was still foggy.

"The morning bell probably hasn't rung yet. Let's lie down for a while and then go out to have breakfast."

Lying in the hazy room, Zhu Gaoxu felt as if he had returned to his hometown at this moment.

It seemed that only at this time could he lie down with peace of mind.

It's just that he didn't lie down like this for long. When the morning bell rang, he got up and started to wash up.

After half an hour, he finally packed up everything. After taking out half a dozen coins from the cash box in the house, he went out to West Chang'an Street.

It's Mao hour now, and many people haven't gotten up yet. Only the officials of the Ming Dynasty have gotten up and gone to work.

So after he walked to the street, the people passing by were Ming officials riding donkey carts or walking to work.

Zhu Gaoxu was wearing a short brown suit and looked like a commoner.

If it weren't for his tall height and fair complexion, I'm afraid the officials who come and go would think that he is a humble citizen who doesn't know his dignity.

Zhu Gaoxu could ignore their looks because he knew his identity.On the street where officials come and go, this guy walked leisurely along West Chang'an Street to the west.

The inner city of Nanjing becomes more prosperous as you go west. After crossing Dazhong Bridge, Zhu Gaoxu walked towards Zhongzheng Street.

After arriving here, there were more ordinary people on the street.

Zhongzheng Street is about ten feet wide on the left and right sides. Most of the shops facing the street are single-slope tile-roofed houses with one ridge and two hangings. A few have structures with one ridge and four hangings.

These shops have bricks on the outside and bricks on the inside. Some have bluestone wall foundations and built-in hidden pillars, and some have pillars hanging out of the building, wooden pillars and stone foundations, and dripping eaves.

But no matter what, their roof structures are all made of wooden beams, and the purlins and rafters are mostly made of Jiangnan miscellaneous wood.

The floor inside the shop is basically made of bluestone slabs, which complement the blue brick road on the street without being out of place at all.

On the street, many people just got up and opened the doors, and the doors they used were the same board doors that Zhu Gaoxu had seen when he was a child.

The so-called board door is made by cutting out the outer frame from the lintel frame and the door rail in front of the store, fixing it with tenons, and then using strips of wooden boards to put them into the outer frame one by one, and then overlap each other to hold them together, so it is called Board door.

There are also carved lintels or hanging plaques above the lintel frame of these panel doors.

However, most shops still choose to use the simplest method, which is to get a retractable wooden pole in front of the door and hang a white cloth with the name of the store on the wooden pole.

When Zhu Gaoxu was strolling around, he could clearly see that almost all shops along the street had steps in front of them. The simplest ones also had one level of steps, which not only facilitated the entry and exit of customers, but also prevented rainwater from flowing back.

The steps of these shops generally use bluestone strips of moderate size. The steps are more common with odd numbers, mostly one to three, and very rarely five.

Moreover, there was a hole opened on the left side of the blue bricks of the shop, and a piece of bamboo extended from the inside out. It was probably the external drainage outlet for rainwater in the courtyard.

These vents are very particular. The sewers in Nanjing City are on the right side of the store, so after the water on the left comes out, it flows around the steps. Although he doesn't know what the meaning is, Zhu Gaoxu takes it very seriously.

He picked a market and walked in. Most of the buildings in the inner market were integrated with the shops facing the street. The shops facing the street were the front doors, and the shops there were the back doors.

Therefore, relatively speaking, the decoration and structure of Lifang shops are simpler.

For example, the roof of a village has a flat roof. After the beams, purlins and rafters are erected, a layer of reeds and silk are put on to cover the ash. After the workers beat it firmly, they will build a convex edge around it, open drainage outlets, and install dripping water.

The tile openings of these houses usually face their own courtyards. Zhu Gaoxu asked a jewelry store that got up early. They said that this means that "the rich water does not flow to outsiders."

After hearing this, Zhu Gaoxu smiled and didn't say much. He just walked out of the street and continued to wander on Zhongzheng Street.

Maybe it was getting late, so after he walked out of Lifang, most of the shops on the street were already open for business.

After all, it is a farming society, so most of the street shops in Nanjing focus on serving people's daily necessities such as food, clothing, housing and transportation.

There are shops on both sides of Zhongzheng Street. Zhu Gaoxu saw countless shops along the way, but the basic businesses were cloth shops, Danhuafang, rice shops, pharmacies, small hotels, grocery stores, and pawn shops.

Of course, apart from these, the most open ones are snack bars.

During the Hongwu period, the inner city was strictly managed. Food stalls placed randomly like those in the outer city were rare. The city was mostly dominated by shops.

Zhu Gaoxu walked into a "Liu Ji's Shop", which mainly sold pasta, wontons, steamed dumplings and other foods.

Zhu Gaoxu ordered a bowl of chess meat noodles, two steamed dumplings and steamed buns, then sat on a chair in the store and quietly looked at Zhongzheng Street, where the flow of people was gradually increasing.

(End of this chapter)