A Thousand Hills

Chapter 129

The hustle and bustle of the imperial capital did not affect the fifth prince and his wife who were on vacation in the countryside. The fifth prince presided over the work of cleaning up the warm soup palace.The fifth prince has always been majestic and majestic outside, but in fact he is still young and very playful. When he returned to his own courtyard, he would chatter with Xie Moru about the appearance of the palace. How is the pool?"

Xie Moru said, "What kind? It's nothing more than a soup pool. Our family also has it."

"It can't be compared at all." The fifth prince showed a complacent look as he said that, as if he had seen the greatness of the world, but in fact he was just seeing the queen's Tangchi.The fifth prince never left his wife behind for good things, and said, "I'll take you there tomorrow to open your eyes."

Xie Moru didn't believe it, "Is it really that good?"

The fifth prince snorted twice, his nostrils turned upside down, Xie Moru glanced at him, and asked him, "How is the repair of the palace going?"

The fifth prince immediately turned depressed, his straight back was no longer straight, he fell back directly, leaned on the pillow of the warm couch, and said with a crooked body, "Father has always been diligent in state affairs, this warm soup palace is actually I haven't used it, there are so many places to repair, I don't think the father will be able to use it in a short time."

Xie Moru asked, "So, is it going to be overhauled?"

"Calculated by the craftsmen of the Department of Internal Affairs, it will take one month at the fastest to repair it properly. This is the fastest construction period. The repairs alone will cost at least 8 taels of silver." The fifth prince is not ignorant of Chai Migui, so he asked Xie Moru , "How did you build Wanmei Palace back then?"

Xie Moru put one elbow on the couch table, looked at the Fifth Prince slantedly, and said, "Wanmei Palace has always been cleaned by palace attendants, the house is not damaged much, and the household items inside are all good. The walls inside the house are old, the paint on the corridors is peeling off, and the bricks and stones in the courtyard are falling off and damaged. It is easy to repair. You have been to Wanmei Palace. I have the house repainted white and the pillars of the corridors are repainted with tung oil. Varnish, masonry touch up is enough, not troublesome."

The Fifth Prince asked, "How much money did you spend?"

Xie Moru thought for a while, "Because I was not in a hurry to clean it up, I found five or six craftsmen with good craftsmanship. They worked for a month, and the total cost was only 600 taels of silver."

The fifth prince let out a long "Yi" sound in his throat, sat up abruptly, and widened his eyes, "So cheap?"

Xie Moru said, "I also don't think it's expensive, but I heard from Madam Zhang that for a small family with five or six people outside, two taels of silver a month is enough to spend. I think six hundred silver is enough. And After all, Wanmei Palace is on the mountain, and it is called a palace, but it is much smaller than Tangquan Palace."

The fifth prince said, "Let's go and have a look together tomorrow. I heard the prince said that the household department is very nervous now. It will cost a lot to register the East Palace. Although this practice palace uses the money from the internal treasury, we can afford it." Saving is saving, father has always advocated frugality, and hates luxury the most."

Xie Moru responded with a smile, "Okay."

The fifth prince felt that [-] silver was a bit expensive to build another palace, and a five-entry mansion in a prime location in the imperial capital was only five or six thousand silver, and [-] silver was quite expensive.

But in fact, the Secretary of Internal Affairs really didn't take him for a fool.As Xie Moru said, the walls inside the house are old and need to be repainted.Painting is still a small job. The key is that the palace is full of carved beams and paintings, all of which are painted with lacquer paintings, which are extremely complicated and exquisite. Some of these paintings are old and some have peeled off. It needs to be repaired or repainted. The Secretary of Internal Affairs said that it will take a month. It is definitely a matter of loyalty to the king if it can be repaired.Moreover, this repairing effort is really a hundred times more difficult than repainting.Then there is the road surface of the palace, the bluestone slabs paved on the road are mottled and broken, and the broken ones have to be replaced with new ones to be decent, right?

Xie Moru followed the fifth prince to look around, and said, "It's not easy to fix it in a month."

The Internal Affairs Secretary Lang Zhong said, "Because Your Majesty is going to move the palace, I estimate that the amount of renovation work for this palace is really not small. It is estimated that a few skilled craftsmen from the three princesses' mansion will be selected to repair the palace. In this way, these large palaces should be properly repaired. For the other remote courtyards, please give me more time, Your Highness."

The fifth prince nodded, and asked the doctor to take the repair plan and show it to Xie Moru. He didn't want the [-] silver for nothing, and he clearly noted the price of each item, and he absolutely asked for the price with conscience.Xie Moru was quite appreciative, sent the doctor down, and said to the fifth prince, "If you do it this way, [-] silver is really not much. If you want to save money and time, I have a way."

Xie Moru pointed to the repair watch of the Department of Internal Affairs and said, "The big head is repairing these painted paintings. Back then, Wanmei Palace also had many painted paintings on the corridors and beams that fell off. These painted styles were mostly complicated and magnificent in the previous dynasty, so The colorful depiction of this house is dazzling. If you want me to say, the cornices and bucket arches already have their own style, so there is no need for rich decorations. The colorful decorations will lose the atmosphere. Simply remove these paintings and paint them red directly. Gray tiles, red columns and white walls are simple. It’s magnificent, and it saves trouble, time, and money.”

The fifth prince hesitated, "Is it all right?"

"It will take at least a month for you to repair like the Secretary of Internal Affairs, and [-] silver may not be enough. Think about it, how much gold and silver powder is needed on this lacquer painting? Besides, Wanmei Palace is not good? Xie Moru said, "If you have no idea, just ask His Majesty and tell His Majesty about your difficulties."

The fifth prince decided to write a booklet and ask his father.

After the book was written, the fifth prince went back to the imperial capital in person, and Xie Moru packed up a lot of goods for the fifth prince to bring to Concubine Su.The fifth prince discussed with his father mutteringly, to the effect that it would take time, effort and money to repair it according to the old method, or let's repair it in a different way, which is more economical and practical.Emperor Mu Yuan trusted the fifth prince very much, and said, "Since it is entrusted to you, you can make the decision. Just don't lose the dignity of the royal family."

The fifth prince sent his father a mountain product, and after seeing his mother, he went back to the other courtyard.

When the Fifth Prince was out of the palace, he still met the Eldest Prince. When the Eldest Prince saw him, he asked, "Why is Fifth Brother back?"

The fifth prince rolled his eyes, met with his eldest brother, and sighed, "I don't have any idea about repairing the other palace. Come back and ask Father for an idea."

The eldest prince regained his energy and asked, "But what's the problem? Tell me, if brother can help, he will definitely help."

The fifth prince froze for a while, then said, "It's fine."

"Look at fifth brother, what else can we not talk about with elder brother." The more unwilling the fifth prince was to say anything, the more the eldest prince wanted to know the reason, so he kept asking him endlessly.

The fifth prince showed some difficulty, and finally whispered mysteriously, "That's right, isn't this the first time I've been tasked with repairing the palace? I thought, how much money does it cost to repair the other palace? I don't want it." What a lot of silver!"

The first prince asked the fifth prince how much it cost to build another palace, but the fifth prince was awkward and refused to say, the first prince deliberately angrily said, "Why can't the fifth brother even trust the elder brother?"

The fifth prince made an eight sign with his thumb and index finger, sighed again, said he was in a hurry, and left the eldest prince in a hurry.The eldest prince thought to himself, eight?How much silver is this?Eighty thousand? 18?Or 80?Thinking about it again, the first time Lao Wu took over the project, he was tricked by someone, and he still wanted to make money from it!
Since the fifth prince had his father's approval, he let go and did it, mainly because the palace belonged to his father, and if he failed, his father probably wouldn't do anything to him.The Fifth Prince summoned the craftsmen of the Department of Internal Affairs and told his thoughts. The Secretary of Internal Affairs was shocked and said, "Your Highness, Your Highness, such a big move, isn't it..."

The fifth prince waved his hand and said, "I asked the emperor about it."

The Minister of Internal Affairs finally breathed a sigh of relief, and asked the fifth prince how he wanted to redecorate. The fifth prince said with a dignified and dignified face, "The color of the palace is more important than simplicity. It is better to use gray, black, White and vermilion are the main colors. After you make a picture, come and tell me.” He issued the order concisely, and he went home to eat.

The Minister of Internal Affairs took the order to leave, feeling that the Fifth Prince was really hard to serve.When it comes to house repairs, he is very familiar with it, it is nothing more than tinkering, and the fifth prince is actually redecorating, except for the house, everything has to be moved.Moreover, judging from the meaning of the fifth prince's words, such a big move, only using monochrome, really has nothing to gain.

Although there was a lot less oil and water all of a sudden, the Department of Internal Affairs did not dare to slack off, and released the blueprint overnight and showed it to the fifth prince.The fifth prince took his wife to look at it again, Xie Moru smiled when he saw it, and said, "That's right, it really is the craftsmanship of the Department of Internal Affairs, and the palace style is far better than it is now."

The fifth prince also opened his face and nodded, "Majestic and magnificent, the royal palace should be like this."

The husband and wife were talking here, but the Secretary of Internal Affairs felt that the couple were really stingy. The lacquer paintings were not repaired, they were just painted red and black, and the damaged bluestone on the ground was not replaced. Xie Moru said, "It's so damaged For some, it would be nice to patch flowers with cobblestones on the side. I think it looks very pretty."

The fifth prince only felt that his daughter-in-law had good eyesight, and even though he had the Secretary of Internal Affairs by his side, he talked a lot, and said, "I thought it was deliberately decorated like this on the Qingshi road in your other palace."

"Who would break a slab and replace it with cobblestones on purpose?" Xie Moru smiled, "It's just that I thought, the slate has been laid in the yard for hundreds of years, and it has been weathered like the yard, so I rashly replaced it with a new one. It's not beautiful."

The degree to which the couple knew how to live a life made the Secretary of Internal Affairs cry in anger.

Major matters were agreed upon, and the Minister of Internal Affairs was dispatched. The fifth prince took his wife to visit the warm soup pool dedicated to his father. The sandalwood door is paved with white jade, and the soup pond is exquisite, beautiful and extravagant, even the soup pond in Wanmei Palace is not as good.Xie Moru said, "In my opinion, even the hot spring palace in Tang Dynasty may not be as good as this pool."

The fifth prince smiled, "Yes, I was also taken aback when I first saw this warm soup pool."

The two of them admired it carefully, and found that the repair of the soup pool could not save on materials. The sapphire should be used for sapphire, and the white jade should be used for white jade. However, one of the six red gold faucets used to fill water by the warm soup pool is gone. It's not that anyone stole it, the main reason is that Dongmu was not rich when he founded the country, and it is only about 30 years old until Emperor Mu Yuan. There were more than [-] years of war in the first [-] to [-] years. Come to soak in warm soup, so this warm soup palace is at most cleaned by the palace servants, and it has never been used, let alone overhauled.The fifth prince thought about it, "Don't change the gold faucet, let's use jade, which is more consistent with the whole." Jade is always cheaper than gold, and the Department of Internal Affairs has plenty of large pieces of jade.

The fifth prince's work was neat, and in half a month everything was ready, including the trimming and transplanting of trees in the palace, and the renovation and cleaning of the palace. After everything was done, he asked his father to move to Tangquan Palace.

The fifth prince finished the work, and Emperor Mu Yuan sent the eldest prince to have a look. The first prince came on horseback, but the palace changed drastically. He couldn't speak for a while, so he asked the fifth prince, "Is this a lot of money?"

The fifth prince said, "Father, the imperial treasury paid the money, and the court ministers couldn't say anything else."

"How much money do you need?" The eldest prince asked the fifth prince again.

The fifth prince stretched out a finger, and the great emperor took a deep breath of air, and stared in disbelief, "So many!" The fifth prince is dark enough!His father gave him this job, and within a month, he reported 100 million. Even if he did a good job, the fifth child would at least get half of it!

The fifth prince said, "Is this too much? Brother, it's saving and saving!"

The eldest prince didn't say anything, thinking that people should not be judged by their appearances, people outside would say that the old five is honest, hey, everyone outside is blind!Among their brothers, I am afraid that the fourth brother in the Ministry of Industry does not have the money-making skills of the fifth brother!

The eldest prince looked back at the palace, thinking in his heart, can the project of 100 million be bad?At noon, I had a light meal in the fifth prince's courtyard. In the afternoon, I went back to the emperor to meet his father. He praised the palace very much. Most suitable."

Emperor Mu Yuan heard the same thing from his elder son, so he notified several favored concubines in the harem to tidy up and salute, and took the queen mother to live in the palace for a while.Because the Fifth Prince was in charge of the practice palace, Emperor Mu Yuan brought Concubine Su with him, thinking that Concubine Su was always sick and in pain, so she could go to Wentang Palace to give birth and raise her, where it is warm.

Emperor Mu Yuan also liked it when he moved to the palace. Without him, most of the buildings now inherit the rich and complicated style of the previous dynasty. The fifth prince completely abandoned this kind of detail and delicacy. Sitting in Emperor Mu Yuan's room, the windows were bright and clean, and everything was thoughtful.What is enjoyment, comfort is enjoyment.

Emperor Mu Yuan first sent the Queen Mother to Fengning Hall, which is the residence of the Queen Mother. There are several pots of camellia in the hall. Queen Mother Hu seldom goes out of the palace. Well, bright red and festive."

The fifth prince couldn’t stop laughing, the main reason is that when choosing flowers and trees for bonsai decoration in the courtyards of the palaces, the palaces of Emperor Mu Yuan and Empress Dowager Hu were of course the most important thing, the fifth prince naturally wanted to choose the most precious ones, but Xie Moru It made it clear, "Your Majesty's place is just to put some exquisite flowers, and the Empress Dowager's place should be in festive colors."

He actually called his daughter-in-law right.The fifth prince was secretly happy, so he heard Empress Dowager Hu praise him, "Xiao Wu is getting more and more capable."

The fifth prince smiled brightly, "The grandson is just sharing the worries of the father."

Emperor Mu Yuan was also quite satisfied. The key is that the money was spent less and the work was done beautifully. Emperor Mu Yuan smiled, "This job was done well."

The fifth prince smiled modestly, "It's all the father who taught me well."

After the palace was repaired, the weather turned cold. After a heavy snowfall, the porridge shed in the fifth prince’s mansion began to give out porridge again. Daxian actually knows how to do things, and he is honest."

(End of this chapter)