Tang Dynasty woman

Chapter 3

People's lives were exchanged for 49 palaces
In the Sui Dynasty, it was all thanks to Emperor Wen’s good governance and frugality that day, so there were enough soldiers and food everywhere. At that time, many countries were afraid of power and virtue, and paid tribute every year, and came to the court every year.But now that Emperor Yang was replaced, he harassed the wealthy and happy Sui Dynasty until he couldn't rest day and night.It is not enough to dig the Grand Canal in this way, and Emperor Sui Yang ordered Yu Wenkai and Feng Deyi to build Renshou Palace in Luoyang.Because Emperor Sui Yang decided to move the capital to Luoyang from the first year of his accession to the throne, he used 200 million people to build Luoyang every month, and Renshou Palace was just a small item among them.

After these two officials were ordered, they set up a craftsman's office in Luoyang. On the one hand, they adjusted the situation and built a large-scale construction project; , delivered one by one.Needless to say, it is very difficult and troublesome to move the huge trees with a circumference of tens of meters and the boulders with a height of three to five feet. It is not known how much food and lives will be spent on every plant and tree, and how many lives will be killed to get to Luoyang.Needless to say, the people suffered endlessly in the places they passed through; even in the deep mountains and poor valleys, because of looking for exotic flowers and rare animals, the people's families were disturbed.In the end, with the blood, tears and resentment of the common people, and the emptiness of the national treasury, a magnificent palace of Xianren was built like a nine-day fairy palace.

After the Xianren Palace was completed, Emperor Yangdi's car set off for Tokyo (that is, Luoyang).When he arrived, Emperor Yangdi was very happy when he saw the Xianren Palace in front of him.Hundreds of flowers are blooming in the royal garden at this time, clusters of pink and white, clusters of red and yellow, not the usual colors.Emperor Yang asked while appreciating: "Where did these flowers and trees come from, so fresh and lovely?" Yu Wenkai who accompanied him said: "Generally, flowers and trees are everywhere, only the green lotus, osmanthus, ginkgo, Jinmei, weeping willow, oleander, these extremely gorgeous flowers and plants are all produced in Yangzhou."

When Emperor Yangdi heard the word Yangzhou, he felt very itchy in his heart, and then Feng Deyi, who was also accompanying him, added: "The many flowers and trees in the imperial garden are not the best in Yangzhou; I heard that there are many flowers and trees in Yangzhou. In Fanliguan, there is a viburnum flower that blooms like snow and has a fragrance that floats for dozens of miles. There is no second flower in the world. That is the No.1 flower in Yangzhou!" Emperor Yang immediately said as a matter of course: "Since With such a high-grade immortal product, why not transplant it into the Forbidden Garden?"

Feng Deyi said: "This Qionghua was originally loved by Yangzhou's delicate beauty, so it was born between heaven and earth, so it can't move, and it will wither as soon as it is moved." Not only did Emperor Yang not get angry because of disappointment, but he was inexplicably happy , and continued to ask: "How far is it from Tokyo to Yangzhou?"

The honest and kind Yu Wenkai wondered what the reason was, and hurriedly said: "It's about a thousand miles away." After hearing this, Emperor Yang couldn't be happy anymore, he frowned hesitantly, and then With a bitter face, he spread his hands and sighed: "I want to swim, but the road is far away. If you take more concubines, where will you rest along the way? If you take less concubines, the loneliness along the way will be like this What?!"

"In my humble opinion, it only takes [-] miles to build a row of palaces, and [-] miles to build a separate palace; build more than [-] separate palaces and villas, and you can go directly from Tokyo to Yangzhou. Choose more beauties in the palace. Live here, assign a few eunuchs to take charge of the affairs of the palace; if your majesty wants to visit Yangzhou fortunately, you don't need to march horses, move food and grass, just light cars, there are palaces and palaces, concubines and concubines everywhere along the way, your majesty You can use it as you like, and enjoy it as you like, which is better than being depressed in the palace. Why worry about loneliness? Why do you need to bring more concubines?" Feng Deyi's ingenuity and intelligence immediately came to the fore. I was very comforted in my heart; sure enough, after hearing this, Emperor Yang was relieved of all his worries and worries, and immediately said with great joy: "In this case, I am determined to swim. The second minister will not stop working hard, those who leave the palace and other halls will have to wait." Erqing supervised the creation, no time limit, only to be perfect."

With this decree of Emperor Yangdi, countless skilled craftsmen and tens of thousands of migrant workers will no longer be able to live in peace. On the road of more than 1000 miles from Luoyang to Yangzhou, they have built palaces year after year according to the terrain: or Every thirty miles, or fifty miles away, or near the mountains, or near the water, you have to choose a place with a good shape and scenery.Soon, from Tokyo to Yangzhou, a total of 49 places were selected, and then the official documents immediately reached the local counties and counties, asking the local officials to prepare materials and urge some labor.Pity those counties and counties, for a Xianren Palace, it has been dragged down to the point of exhaustion, officials and people died, how could it be worthy of Emperor Yangdi to build 49 separate palaces, and suddenly there were cries everywhere in the four realms.Yu Wenkai and Feng Deyi had no choice but to pretend to be deaf and blind under the cover of the black gauze hat, urging the county and county magistrates against their conscience, and refused to show mercy or forgiveness at all.They appointed [-] officials in Tokyo to urge the local government; if there is any delay, they will be executed immediately by name and participation.The magistrate of that county, thinking that his fame and life were important, forced the people to work day and night. In less than half a year, the lives of the people died under this kind of persecution, and [-] people died.

At the same time, that Sui Yang Emperor lived peacefully in Xianren Palace, having fun day and night with several newly selected beauties.The lives of a mere 360 civilians were not taken seriously by Emperor Yangdi. Fortunately for Jiangdu, he finally dug a Huaihe River and opened the gate of Yujin.The water potential of Mengjin was originally several feet higher than that of Yuhe River; when the gate was released, the great flood came rolling towards Yuhe River in waves.From Heyin, through Daliang, Bianliang, Chenliu, Suiyang, Ningling, and Pengcheng, it goes eastward and leads to Huai River.In this hard work, 110 million people were originally arrested; by the time the river course was completed, only 5 million people remained.The section leader of the foreman was originally 7000 people, but in the end there were only 300 people left. In addition, more than [-] people were killed along the way.All in all, the creation of this Yuhe cost a total of [-] million lives.

Go bankrupt and build thousands of dragon boats

As soon as Emperor Yangdi saw that the Yuhe River was open, he immediately ordered the Ministry of Industry to build ten top-ranked dragon boats for the emperor and empress to sit on; Sixteen of the most favored and beloved concubines sat with other concubines and beauties; the rest of the [-] miscellaneous boats were all completed within three months.After receiving the decree, the Ministry of Industry did not dare to be negligent, and hurriedly issued documents to all counties, states and counties, and assigned them to rush to build.Three hundred are made in large counties, two hundred in medium counties, and one hundred in small counties.Those state and county officials distributed them to the people according to the upper, middle and lower third-class households. Some high-class households made one exclusively, some middle-class households jointly made one, and some lower-class households jointly built one. .The dragon boats must be built very magnificently, and each boat costs tens of thousands of silver taels to build.It's a pity that even the upper-class families have exhausted their human and financial resources; let alone the middle- and lower-class families.Along the river and along the Huaihe River, every household, no one is immune to the disaster of Emperor Yangdi. It is a common thing to go bankrupt and sell children and women everywhere. On the Baishi pier of the Yuhe River, with the microwave of the clear water, the long embankment twists and turns, and the river is wide and big.

A thousand palace girls

Emperor Yangdi personally led civil and military officials to the Yuhe River.At this moment, Bibo has a new rise, one color is clear, and one look is like a mirror.Look at the number one dragon boat, which is twenty feet long and four feet wide, with three main halls standing in the middle, with a building on the top of the hall and a pavilion outside the building.The boat is full of resplendent gold and pearls.At the back of the hall, there is still a harem built around it, surrounded by painted railings, curved sills, exquisite windows, and the walls are all inlaid with gold and carved with jade, or decorated with five-color pictures, with tall brocade curtains and bead curtains.

Emperor Yang went on a cruise on the dragon boat and felt very satisfied, but during the drinking, Emperor Yang suddenly discovered a new problem: "Although the dragon boat is built magnificently, like a palace, it's just too long and too wide. I can’t hold on, and the oars can’t move, and I must be extremely slow when I walk. I don’t know when I will be able to reach Jiangdu? I will definitely feel extremely depressed in the boat, alas!”

Wang Hong, the servant of Huangmen, immediately responded: "Your Majesty, don't worry. When I was ordered to supervise the construction of ships, I had already made brocade sails from satin. Taking advantage of the east wind, why worry about being slow?" , After pondering for a while, he said: "Although Jinfan is ingenious, it also needs wind; in windless weather, wouldn't it be difficult to move an inch?" Brocade cables made of colorful velvet, one end is tied to the pillar of the palace, and the other end is led by the wife to walk, as if the palace has grown feet; even on a windless day, it can be walked extremely fast." Emperor Yang heard this. Then he became happy and praised: "Qing is really a useful talent!" He gave three glasses of wine again and again.

Xiao Huaijing, who was the most playful and well-behaved, saw him, and hurriedly said: "Although Jinlan is good, but I'm afraid those people are stupid, and your Majesty will not look good to you. Why don't you send people to the Wuyue area to pick fifteen or sixteen-year-old girls?" , Dressed up in gorgeous palace clothes, when there is no wind, go ashore and pull the cable, and when the wind is windy, sit around the boat with oars? Your Majesty leans on the railing to watch, how interesting and interesting."

After hearing this, Emperor Yangdi couldn't help claiming it was wonderful, and asked Wang Hong, how many women are needed for each boat to be enough?Wang Hong calculated briefly for a while, and then said: "Each boat has ten brocade cables, and each cable must be pulled and pulled by ten women. Ten cables share one hundred women. A total of ten dragon boats need to be selected. A thousand girls are enough." Emperor Yang thought, "In such a big dragon boat, how can we hold these one hundred petite girls? I think I need to add a thousand servants to help them, so that they will not be too big. It's exhausting."

Xiao Huaijing hurriedly continued to repeat the same words: "Your Majesty, I think it's inappropriate. Your Majesty uses women to lead the rope. It's a good idea. If there are servants mixed in, it's not beautiful. If Your Majesty takes care of those girls, I have a Tip: Most of the ancients used sheep to drive carts, so it is better to add a thousand jade-colored goats. Each woman drives the goat with a colorful whip in her hand, and the man and the sheep are holding a brocade cable together. The goat is strong, and it is matched with a beautiful woman She looks as beautiful as a goddess shepherding sheep, but I don't know what the holy will mean?" After hearing this, Emperor Yang said repeatedly: "Your words won my heart!" Then he gave wine again and again.

As soon as the banquet was over, Emperor Yang immediately passed down an imperial decree. On the one hand, he sent powerful eunuchs to the Wuyue area to select a thousand beauties;The beautiful women who pull the cables are called palace foot girls, because the dragon boat can only walk with the girls who pull the cables, as if the palace has grown feet, so it got this name.

(End of this chapter)