Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 425 My Palace Is Also in Qixia Mountain

The civil servants present had black lines on their faces. Now that Zhu Youjian advocated the policy of high salaries and honesty, the year-end rewards they received every year were not small, and they despised the stingy mentality of their majesty even more in their hearts.

Liu Wanchun, Minister of the Household Department, couldn't help asking again: "Your Majesty, do you really want to designate a mountain under this Qixia Mountain for the vassal kings to build residences? Will this damage the court's face?"

"What's the loss of face, my palace is also there, let them live next to my palace, is it called loss of face?" Zhu Youjian said, Gao Hongtu and other civil officials looked at each other, and asked Zhu You in surprise Inspection: "Your Majesty, do you have a palace in Qixia Mountain?"

Gao Hongtu and other civil officials know that His Majesty is famous for being frugal. Although the national treasury has been filled after the southward relocation, they have been reluctant to rebuild several dilapidated palaces in the Nanjing Palace City, and they have not mentioned the construction of the imperial mausoleum. After a while, some ministers even directly said that the minister wanted to curse him to die early, otherwise there would be no long-lived people in a hurry to repair the tomb, and it is even more impossible for such a stingy and frugal emperor to have any palace.

"Why don't I have a palace in Qixia Mountain? Isn't the palace that Chengzu and Shenzong left behind during their southern tour is my palace? You don't need to say any more. This matter is settled like this. Song Yingxing, Shangshu of the Ministry of Industry, stays, and the rest Retire, the residence area of ​​the vassal kings in Qixia Mountain should not be called the residence area, it should be called the Qixia villa area, this Qixia villa area was designed by me personally, the villa designed by myself is not a detriment to the court’s face, right? .”

When Zhu Youjian said this, the civil servants remembered that there was indeed a palace in Qixia Mountain, Nanjing, but it was the palace where Chengzu and Shenzong lived during their southern tours, and the most recent one had been there for decades. Too much humidity, heavy humidity, the palace has long been dilapidated and dilapidated.

But these civil officials did not expect that His Majesty would even want such a dilapidated palace, and even used it as an excuse to settle down the vassals.

But now the emperor Zhu Youjian wants the vassals to live in Qixia Mountain, and the civil officials have reminded them, so now Zhu Youjian still insists on letting the vassals live in Qixia Mountain, and the civil officials are not good enough to have any opinions, after all They also wished for this, not to mention that the court could save a lot of expenses, and they didn't have to spend energy to talk about the demolition and the people of Nanjing City.

As for the loss of face, it is only the face of the imperial court. If His Majesty is so stingy, they have nothing to do. If the vassal king blames it, they can only say that it is the sacred arrangement.

The civil servants seemed to have seen the complaints of the vassal kings, and also seemed to see their helplessness in throwing the blame on His Majesty when the time came.

Zhu Youjian has already begun to draw the blueprints of modern villas and supporting gardens with tiles and stones as the main materials, while Song Yingxing reports the status quo of Daming's architectural technology, including the development progress of cement and concrete.

Materials such as cement and concrete are inorganic materials, so they are naturally better than organic materials. Although Da Ming cannot synthesize organic materials in large quantities, the only breakthrough in organic material manufacturing technology is the production of glycerin, but inorganic materials are much easier, especially Cement is nothing but a proportionate mixture of silicate, lime, and gypsum, while concrete is based on cement as the cementitious material, with sand and gravel as the skeleton.

"We now have all kinds of new materials. Without white marble or gold bricks, we can produce the best building materials for him. You can use cement, concrete and other stone dyes as the basis to find the best craftsmen. Based on this, go to Wei Guogong to order a batch of glazed lattice windows, and it is estimated that this kind of house can be built with reinforced concrete within three months."

Zhu Youjian told Song Yingxing carefully.

And Song Yingxing didn't expect that the steel bars produced by the Iron and Steel Smelting Bureau could be used in this way, and he was very interested in using them in construction.

During this period, Ying Tianfu had formally divided a mountainous area of ​​about [-] mu at the foot of Qixia Mountain in the outer city of Nanjing, and Song Yingxing also temporarily stopped other affairs of the Ministry of Industry to lead the construction team in this area full-time. After half a month of construction, the first three-story concrete small building was built, and within two months, all the small buildings were copied using a stream as a horizontal line, and the concrete divisions were also made. Marking buildings in several districts.

The lower part of the outer wall of the building is tiles carved by professional craftsmen, which are elegant and not messy. The upper part of the outer part is the concealed color developed by Daming Ordnance and used to paint firearms. It is basically green and painted on the top of the wall. The whole small building looks solemn and natural.

The windows are orange and blue bucket arch glass windows, which are quiet and luxurious.

The main entrance of the small building is made of mahogany boards combined with colloidal glue. The outside is painted with a layer of paint with a polishing effect, which makes the texture of the mahogany particularly obvious, as if it is the finest mahogany that has been hundreds of years old.

And the stone steps under the main gate are also exquisitely carved. Outside the gate there is a stone-paved path of about [-] steps. There are stone tables and benches beside the path, and there are precious flowers such as Cymbidium cymbidium, and the gate is made of iron. The gate, covered with spears, looks extremely majestic.

Outside the small building is a path paved with bluestone slabs, the path is close to the creek, and the bridge across the creek is another small building.

Each small building has an independent wall, and there is a garden-style garden behind the building, covering an area of ​​only half an acre or even less than half an acre. There are parallel bars and dumbbells that are unique to modern times, as well as children's wooden horses, and Ming version skateboards and swings.

Zhu Youjian brought Gao Hongtu and other civil officials to Qixia Mountain for inspection this day. As soon as Gao Hongtu came, he looked up and saw only a series of small green buildings hidden among the lush green trees and green bamboos in front of him, like a group of graceful Women hiding in the mountains are generally full of fun.

Zhu Youjian snorted disdainfully when he saw the faces of Gao Hongtu and other civil servants as if he had gone to the Qinhuai River to see famous prostitutes dancing, thinking that this kind of resort would be just an ordinary resort in future generations, but at this moment These civil servants may have seen too many double-eave buildings, but now they are naturally very surprised to see green buildings without glazed tiles and red walls.

"Your Majesty, I did not expect to have such an exquisite pavilion. I dared to ask Elder Song Ge, how much money has been spent in total now, is there any money to build a palace?"

Gao Hongtu couldn't help asking Song Yingxing.

Song Yingxing looked at Zhu Youjian, and Zhu Youjian said, "He is the chief assistant, and you also have the obligation to report to him."

In this way, Song Yingxing replied: "It didn't cost much. Selling Duke Bao's courtyard on the west side of the imperial city and his garden at Mochou Lake can cover the current expenses."

(End of this chapter)