Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 490: The New Palace (Special thanks to book friend yyangtq for 2 monthly tickets!)

After Emperor Chai Zongxun and the cabinet decided to conquer the Angkor Dynasty, the specific expedition and battle plans were discussed and determined by the military cabinet, reported to the emperor, and after Chai Zongxun's approval, the army set out.

A few days later, seven members of the military cabinet, who were also veterans of the Great Zhou Empire, had formulated a plan for the expedition. On August 7, the th year of Kaixi, they submitted it to Emperor Chai Zongxun for approval. On September , the army set out from Bian Jing after organizing its military preparations.

The troops that went on the expedition were Gao Hua's unit of the 9th Corps of the Longxiang Army and Liang Ying's unit of the 12th Corps.

With the Great Zhou Empire now being the best in the world and its Longxiang Army having just been equipped with "Kaixi No. 33", two corps with 180,000 people are more than enough to destroy the barbaric Angkor Dynasty.

On the evening of August 15, the 36th year of Kaixi, Chai Zongxun held an imperial banquet in the Huangyi Hall in the front yard of the imperial palace.

Empress Dowager Fu and more than 3,600 concubines in the harem were all present.

Chai Zongxun had given birth to ninety-two princes and ninety-five princesses, all of whom were present. Those who were too young were brought to the banquet by their mothers, concubines, and then taken back to the palace by their personal nannies or palace maids.

After several rounds of drinking, the sky gradually darkened. The noise of people in Bianjing city setting off fireworks and firecrackers to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival could be heard from time to time in the Huangyi Hall.

Chai Zongxun looked around at the family members in the hall, invited them to drink a cup, and said with a smile:
"Now the Bianjing Expansion Project has been completed for more than half of its construction period. Currently, the people have moved to the new outer city, and the project is in the process of relocating the princes and ministers who originally lived in the inner city.

Recently, I have ordered the Ministry of Works to gather ideas and, after many revisions, have designed several construction plans for the new imperial city. You can take a look at them, my dear ministers."

Tang Qi, the chief eunuch standing behind Chai Zongxun, waved his hand lightly. A team of ten eunuchs behind him, each holding a stack of rice paper, walked respectfully into the hall and presented six design drawings of the new imperial city to each member of the imperial family sitting at a seat.

After everyone in the imperial family received a copy of the design drawings for the new imperial city, Chai Zongxun said with a smile:

“Beautiful things are always praised by everyone.

People of our imperial family have lived in the imperial palace for a long time and are most familiar with the pros and cons of its design.

I have ordered the Ministry of Works to plan six new imperial city plans, which include mountains, lakes, gardens, and palaces of different shapes and numbers. My dear ministers, please mark the plan that you think suits you best.

Tomorrow I will hand over the most popular plan to the Ministry of Works, and construction will begin as soon as possible."

The concubines, princes and princesses were overjoyed to hear this. They had been looking forward to the construction of the new palace for a long time, and they immediately examined the design drawings in their hands carefully, and those sitting next to each other discussed with each other from time to time.

By the time the banquet ended at 4 p.m., nearly four thousand copies of the new palace design plans that had been distributed to the concubines, princes, and princesses had all been collected back.

The total area of ​​the imperial palace planned in the six plans was almost the same. Among them, Plans A and E, which had the most mountain and water scenery, were favored by the most imperial family members.

A few days later, on August 26, Chai Zongxun summoned the Minister of Works Guo Zhi to the Yangxin Palace to discuss and determine the construction plan for the new imperial palace.

Chai Zongxun said:

"Minister Guo Ai gathered opinions from all sides and drew up these six plans for the construction of the new imperial palace, each of which has its own outstanding features.

I asked the concubines, princesses, and other members of the royal family to personally select the two most popular plans, Plan A and Plan E. "

Guo Zhi bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, both Plan A and Plan E have the most beautiful landscapes. The difference between the two is the layout and the number of palaces and rooms. Plan A has 26 more palaces and 262 side rooms, a total of 836 palaces and 9,999 side rooms, but Plan E has 810 palaces and 9,737 side rooms, but lacks a back garden."

Chai Zongxun's heart moved, and he felt more comfortable with the number "eight hundred and thirty-six", and immediately said:
"Then let's adopt Plan A for the construction of the new palace!
Materials and construction must be refined!

Except for the rare materials required by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, all others were purchased from the public at market prices.

"Take from the people and use it for the people." Although I am expanding the new imperial palace, I only need to hire civilians to do the work and purchase materials at market prices. This will allow the people to earn money and benefit greatly from the expansion of the new imperial palace!
I will order the Wude Division and local township virtuous bureaus to continue to supervise all details and financial expenditures during the construction process."

Guo Zhi said:
"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

After the plan was selected, more than two months later, all the palaces of princes and ministers in the original inner city of Bianjing were moved into the expanded large mansions in the new inner city. Then the construction of the new imperial palace officially began, with a total of one million laborers and a planned construction time of three years.

On November 5, the 36th year of Kaixi, the First and Second Fleets of the Royal Navy, which had marched eastward to conquer Fuso, returned to Bianjing.

In addition to the gold, silver, rare treasures seized from the Fuso Imperial Palace and the mansions of daimyo across the country, the army also escorted more than 20,000 captured noble women from all over Fuso.

For a while, the people of Bianliang City stopped on the street to watch. Those who could not squeeze into a seat had to go to the second or third floor of the restaurants and teahouses on the street to see the triumphant army. They had to spend some money in the restaurants and teahouses to avoid being driven away by the shopkeepers or waiters.

"It has been a long time since we saw the Great Zhou Empire's Royal Army return triumphantly from the Western Expedition three years ago!"

"That's right! There are too many people watching the fun. As soon as I heard the news, I rushed to the street from home, but I didn't expect it to be so crowded that I couldn't get in!

I had no choice but to go to the second floor of the Fengxiang Restaurant to have a look."

“It’s good to see it!

When the Holy Lord of the Great Zhou Dynasty is alive, his power is so great that it shakes all the continents of the world! Even the Star Sect's World Alliance of more than 20 countries was defeated by His Majesty. From now on, the chances for the people of Bianjing to watch the army's triumphant return will probably become fewer and fewer!

Once Fusang is conquered, all the barbarians in our country will be subdued and we will have no enemies."

"Brothers, look, why are all the men and women in Fusang so short?
If you ask me, among all the enemy nations that Your Majesty has conquered, the women of Fuso are the ugliest.”

"That's right! The Japanese are short to begin with, and they have to learn the clothing etiquette of the Tang Dynasty in China. Once they put on Tang clothing, they look even shorter.

These Japanese women are too petite. It is definitely not worth it for me to spend money to marry them."

"Stop dreaming!

These Fusang women are all local nobles. According to your majesty's custom of benevolence and righteousness, your majesty will select a few of the most beautiful women to enter the harem, and the rest will be rewarded to the soldiers who have made military achievements!"

"I heard that the Angkor Dynasty in the south is arrogant and disrespectful to our Great Zhou. Your Majesty has sent two armies to conquer them!

With the unrivaled military force of our Great Zhou Empire, it will be an easy task to conquer the country!
I wonder how the women of Angkor compare to the women of Fusang."

(End of this chapter)