Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 449: New Year's Eve of the Thirty-third Year of Kaixi (Special thanks to my book friend Brother Fu Yuan for his two monthly tickets!)

Time flies, and the New Year's Eve of the 33rd year of Kaixi has arrived.

This year, the "New Year's Eve Banquet" held in the Imperial Palace had an increase and decrease in the number of imperial family members attending:
That is, seven princes and nine princesses who have already started their own families will not participate this year. Instead, they will spend New Year's Eve in their own palaces and then bring their families to the palace to pay New Year's greetings to their father, the emperor, their mother, and their grandmother.

There were also two princes and three princesses born this year who, although still in swaddling clothes, were brought to the ceremony by their mothers/concubines. After their appearance, they were sent back to their bedrooms by their wet nurses and palace maids.

Chai Zongxun had eighty-nine princes and ninety-two princesses.

At the evening hour of You, the New Year's Eve banquet officially began in the Huangyi Hall.

The banquet prepared by the Ministry of Internal Affairs was extremely luxurious and grand, and the number of dishes increased to more than 1,200, mainly including some famous dishes from Central, West Asia and Kyrgyzstan.

The number of singing, dancing and acrobatic troupes performing on stage has also increased from over 600 and 60,000 people last year to 700 and 70,000 people.

As Chai Zongxun frequently raised his glass and invited everyone to drink, the atmosphere in the imperial family became lively and everyone wished each other a happy new year.

Time passed quickly as we savored delicious food from all over the Great Zhou and watched various singing, dancing and acrobatic performances in the hall.

Chai Zongxun put down his wine glass, looked around with a smile at the more than 2,500 concubines and nearly 200 princes and princesses in the hall, and thought:

“Time really is unforgiving.

In the past two years, the speed at which I have children seems to have slowed down significantly.

Humans are truly created by the Creator, and everything has its destiny.

When I was in my twenties, I once had sex with ten women in one night, and made three of them pregnant at the same time. Now, even though I practice the internal martial arts passed down by the old master Chen Tuan diligently every day, I am over forty years old and I no longer have the interest to have sex with five women in one night. The most I can do is three.

It seems that if I want to achieve my ambition of having a hundred princes, I still need to work hard."

Chai Zongxun calculated silently in his mind for a while and figured out that all the more than 2,500 concubines and imperial concubines had been "equally benefited by the emperor", and the least one had served him in bed more than three times.

Heart Road:

“It seems that if we want to achieve our wish of having 100 sons as soon as possible, we can choose a concubine once after the beginning of the year.

It has been five or six years since the last talent show. This time we can look forward to beauties from Central Asia, Khitan and Khorezm. "

When Chai Zongxun was thinking with a smug smile, Concubine Yi, Zhou Nuying, who was sitting in the second seat on the left, called him several times before he heard it.

Zhou Nuying chuckled and said:

"What are you thinking about, Your Majesty? I have something to tell you."

Chai Zongxun smiled and said:
"What is it? Just tell me, my dear."

Zhou Nuying said:

"Your Majesty, Jun'er and several other princes have already married, and Your Majesty has granted them all grand palaces.

However, the population of Bianjing City is too large now. It is extremely prosperous, but not far from the royal palace are the residences of princes and ministers. Even the residences of ordinary people are not far away, and it is noisy every day.

I have been to Jun'er's "Yawang Mansion" several times, and I always feel that the surrounding area is too noisy, which is not conducive to Jun'er and the princess to rest and relax. "Chai Zongxun said:

"My beloved concubine, do you want me to grant Jun'er a new palace? But now Bianjing is overcrowded. If we want to build a bigger palace, we must relocate the people."

Empress Dowager Fu put down her chopsticks and said with a smile:

"Your Majesty, Ying'er is right about this.

Even though my mother is in the palace, she can still hear the hawking and acrobatics coming from the streets outside the palace every day. It is definitely not as quiet as it was in previous years."

Chai Zongxun knew that this was because since he ascended the throne, the economy of the Great Zhou had developed by leaps and bounds. As the imperial capital, Bianjing was the political, cultural, and economic center of the country, with a huge increase in population and prosperous commercial activities.

Bian Jing, during the Spring and Autumn Period, Duke Zhuang of Zheng ordered Zheng Bing to build a city here, named Kaifeng, which means to expand the territory.

During the Warring States Period, the State of Wei built its capital here, named Daliang, or Liang for short; because the city spanned the Bian River, it was called Bianzhou in the Tang Dynasty; later generations collectively called it Bianliang.

Bianjing is located in the middle reaches of the Yellow River plain and in the central area of ​​the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty. The Yellow River, Bian River, Cai River and Wuzhang River are all navigable, and water and land transportation is very convenient.

Since the end of the Tang Dynasty, since Zhu Wen, the founding emperor of the Later Liang Dynasty, started out as the governor of Bianzhou and established his capital in Bianliang, subsequent dynasties, except the Later Tang, the Later Jin, Later Han, and Great Zhou all made Bianliang their capitals, allowing Bianliang to develop rapidly and become the political, economic, and cultural center of the country.

When the Later Liang Dynasty first established its capital, Bianjing had a population of over 300,000. By the time of the Zhou Dynasty's Taizu and Taizong, they had already shown signs of unifying the country.

Emperor Taizong of Zhou, Guo Rong, was a man of great talent and strategy. One year after he ascended the throne, Guo Rong, who was very economically savvy, felt that the city of Bianjing was cramped and the streets were narrow, so he decided to expand it.

On April 955, , the second year of Xiande in the Great Zhou Dynasty, Guo Rong issued an edict ordering the outer city of Daliang to be expanded outward, and boundary markers to be erected in the designated areas, and construction to begin during the winter farming off-season.

In January of the third year of Xiande of the Great Zhou Dynasty (956), Guo Rong mobilized about 10 civilian workers from four prefectures and began a large-scale expansion of the capital.

After the expansion of Bianjing, an outer city was built outside the old city, which was twice as large as the old city, forming a triple wall. The innermost is the imperial city, with a circumference of 9 li; the middle is the inner city (inner city), with a circumference of 20 li; the outermost is called Luocheng (outer city), with a circumference of 48 li, 15 water and land gates, and an area of ​​about 34 square kilometers.

In the sixth year of Xian De when Chai Zongxun first ascended the throne, the population of Bianliang was over 90,000 households and nearly 500,000 people.

After more than 30 years of rapid development during the "Kaixi Prosperity", Bianliang, as the national political, economic, and cultural center, had a population that had increased nearly sevenfold to over 3.2 million, according to statistics from the Ministry of Households in the middle of the 32nd year of Kaixi.

Although Bianjing had been greatly expanded by his father, Emperor Taizong, it was apparently almost full due to the population which had increased nearly sevenfold.

Hence, there were the sighs of Concubine Yi and Empress Dowager Fu about the “hustle and bustle of Bianjing” at today’s New Year’s Eve banquet.

Chai Zongxun thought about the fact that he still wanted to select beautiful girls from the people to fill his harem, as well as the nearly 200 princes and princesses who would grow up and start their own families in the future. It seemed inevitable that Bianliang would be expanded on a large scale again.

Chai Zongxun nodded slightly and said:
“What my mother and my beloved concubine said is very true.

In the more than 30 years since I ascended the throne, our Great Zhou has enjoyed peace and prosperity, and the population of Bianliang has increased nearly seven times compared to the Xian De period, to 3.2 million. It really feels like a small place with a large population.

I have decided that after the New Year, I will discuss and decide in the court to expand Bianjing again. The imperial palace and the palaces of the princes and princesses will all be expanded and newly built."

When all the people in the imperial family heard this, they were all delighted.

In fact, there are more than 2,500 concubines and girls in Chai Zongxun's harem, nearly 200 princes and princesses who have not yet married and established their own households, plus more than 20,000 eunuchs and palace maids as attendants. Although the imperial palace is large and has many palaces and side rooms, it has changed from the many unoccupied palaces in the early years of Kaixi to the overcrowded ones today.

(End of this chapter)