The Prosperous Era of Longwan

Although he didn't know what Wang Yu's reasons were for going to express condolences to Lu Bing, Yan Shifan knew that some things in the original plan had to be changed.

In the afternoon, Yan Shifan got the news from the Lu family in the other courtyard. King Yu personally expressed his condolences. Although it was very low-key, the news that King Yu expressed condolences to Lu Bing spread quickly throughout the capital.

"Isn't the prince here yet?"

Yan Shifan saw that the food and wine in front of him no longer tasted good, and the beautiful beauties beside him were no longer attractive. He stared at the piece of paper in his hand that recorded the words and deeds of King Yu when he expressed condolences to the Lu family.

Lu Bing was so kind to King Yu when he was a child? How did I not hear it being said.

He also carried the infant King Yu to the Qianqing Palace to meet the emperor. Can he, Lu Bing, enter and leave the harem?

The more Yan Shifan read, the more anxious he became. If this news got out, it would be clear to others that Lu Bing had liked Prince Yu a long time ago and had some affection for Prince Yu.

The most important thing is that in the Lu Mansion, King Yu meant something beyond what he said. Lu Bing helped him a lot, and it was almost as if Lu Bing secretly tipped him off.

Originally, Yan Shifan just made up a lie about Lu Bing taking refuge with King Yu just to fool King Jing. Well, he didn't expect that it turned out to be a mistake.

In the past, Yan Shifan thought that Lu Bing was maintaining a neutral attitude and said nothing on the issue of establishing the crown prince. Unexpectedly, he had secretly colluded with King Yu.

As for Wei Guangde, at this time Yan Shifan only thought that Prince Yu's Mansion sent him to the Lu Mansion to check the wind direction. After all, Prince Yu was here in person, so the fewer people at the scene, the better, and the fewer people who knew about it, the better.

The whereabouts of the Wei family's servant Li San when he left the Lu Mansion was also found out. He really went to Prince Yu's Mansion. Not long after Li San left, Prince Yu left the mansion and went straight to the Lu Family to express his condolences.

It's just useless to think about this. Now Yan Shifan urgently needs to come up with countermeasures to deal with it. The previous plan must not continue.

What happened during the day was known to Emperor Jiajing in the Yongshou Palace at night.

In the past, these notes were sent by Lu Bing, but now they were handed over to Dongchang by Jinyiwei commander Zhu Xizhong, and Huang Jin forwarded them to Emperor Jiajing.

"Prince Yu? Full Moon?"

Like Yan Shifan, there was also a note on Emperor Jiajing's imperial desk at this time recording King Yu's condolence words at the Lu Mansion.

Emperor Jiajing read the note and thought about it. It had been too long and he could no longer remember it.

It all happened more than 20 years ago, and he didn't take it seriously at the time.

"Huang Jin, when King Yu was full moon, was it Lu Bing who carried the child to Qianqing Palace?"

After speaking, Emperor Jiajing looked at Huang Jin.

"That seems to be the case."

Huang Jin on the side had seen these notes a long time ago, and of course he also noticed them. After recalling them carefully, Huang Jin vaguely remembered that this was really the case, so he answered immediately after Emperor Jiajing asked.

When King Yu was born, Emperor Jiajing went to Kangbin Palace to sit and look at the newly born King Yu, and never set foot there again.

After that, Concubine Kang was granted the title of Concubine Kang, and concubine Jing, the mother-concubine of King Jing, was also promoted with her.

However, the treatment of King Yu and King Jing was different. Because Concubine Jing was favored, King Jing could still see Emperor Jiajing from time to time at that time.

As for the so-called motto "Two dragons never meet", it is actually aimed at the emperor and the prince.

The eldest son of Emperor Jiajing died more than two months after he was born, and was posthumously named Prince Aichong.

The second son, Zhu Zaihen, was two years older than King Yu and King Jing. He was established as the prince when he was three years old. He died in the 28th year of Jiajing at the age of fourteen and was given the posthumous title of Prince Zhuangjing.

Although Emperor Jiajing liked and paid the most attention to his second son, he was indeed influenced by Tao Zhongwen and never saw him again after his second son was crowned prince.

Because of his relationship with the prince, Emperor Jiajing could naturally meet his other two sons.

It's just that Queen Yu's mother and concubine are not favored, and there are only a handful of opportunities to see the emperor. This is one of the reasons why Prince Jing is rumored to be more favored.

It was not until the prince came out to study that the Emperor Jiajing was forced to meet the prince that day due to ancestral restrictions. However, he did not expect that the prince would fall ill and die soon. Emperor Jiajing himself was also frightened, so he simply never summoned the remaining two. A son, let alone a crown prince.

If father and son never meet, they will naturally not violate that maxim.

Although the summons was not public, Emperor Jiajing did not ignore his two sons. In fact, he had been secretly watching his two sons over the years.

He had seen the past performances of King Yu and King Jing. Emperor Jiajing was naturally aware of King Jing's little actions, but he didn't do anything.

The emperor doesn't like his son to think about inheriting the throne when he is still healthy. Doesn't that mean he will die early?

But Emperor Jiajing did not dare to punish his sons easily. There were only two sons left out of four. If there was another accident, I couldn't imagine it.

Emperor Jiajing knew best how he sat on the throne.

Hearing Huang Jin's confirmed answer, Emperor Jiajing was just slightly stunned, and then said with some disappointment: "I didn't expect Lu Bing and King Yu, haha."

"Your Majesty, Wenfu is loyal to you. As for Prince Yu, I'm afraid it's because of you that he's worried about being bullied too much."

Huang Jin said cautiously from the side.

"If jade is not polished, it cannot be made into a weapon. It is just a little tempered. When I first ascended to Dabao, it was much more difficult than him."

Emperor Jiajing suddenly said in a solemn tone. In the change of attitude, the topic also turned to other things.

"Have you found out who was behind it?"

Upon hearing Emperor Jiajing's question, Huang Jin hurriedly knelt down to explain.

Emperor Jiajing knew as soon as he saw his actions that there should still be no progress.

"The Emperor atones."

"That's all. Since they dare to do this, they must have thought of the follow-up methods. Try your best to investigate. I won't force you."

Huang Jin hurriedly kowtowed and was about to stand up when he heard Emperor Jiajing's question again.

"Wen Fu and I discussed the rumors about the vassal state. Have we found out the source?"

Huang Jin immediately knelt down again, wanting to report good news to Emperor Jiajing, but there was really no good news.

"Report to the Emperor, we haven't found anything yet. The news seems to have spread in a short time. According to my judgment, it should be a rumor spread by many people at the same time."

"It's time for the inner court to reorganize itself, and you, the admiral eunuch, should also pay more attention."

The fierce look in Emperor Jiajing's eyes flashed away, and he said in a bad tone: "They all call you ancestor, but if you can't even control people, what's the use."

"I know the crime, and I will vigorously rectify it to prevent this from happening again."

Huang Jin hurriedly kowtowed and admitted his mistake.

"Put it aside, has it been eradicated? I want you to brighten your eyes so that if something happens you don't know who to take responsibility for."

Emperor Jiajing shook his head slightly and said dissatisfied.

He stood up and walked into the inner room, muttering softly as he walked, "It's time to become a feudal lord. The child is getting older and will have to leave sooner or later."

After Emperor Jiajing entered, Huang Jincai, who was kneeling on the ground, slowly stood up, stretched out his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his head, and looked towards the direction where Emperor Jiajing disappeared with lingering fear.

At this time, King Yu was sitting alone in the study room in the inner courtyard of the palace, in a daze.

In the morning, he followed Gao Gong's suggestion and went to the Lu Mansion to express his condolences in person. At that time, he didn't think too much. Everything Master Gao said should be correct.

It was a rare occasion to leave the palace, so Prince Yu was still very excited.

It's not that the emperor banned him, but that he really didn't know what to do outside the palace.

This may also be his sadness. The palace officials around him have somewhere to go and have fun after they are off duty, but he cannot.

In fact, he can, but after he goes, the news will spread all over the city very quickly, and some officials will even impeach him, because in their view, King Yu is the crown prince, and his words and deeds should set an example for the world, and they cannot tolerate his behavior. A slight flaw.

These are what Gao Gong and Yin Shizhen said, and King Yu also thinks they make sense.

King Yu knew very well that his younger brother had coveted that position for a long time, and he kept a close eye on every detail of his place.

When the two brothers did the same thing, most of the officials would turn a blind eye, because in their view, King Jing was going to join the vassal in the future, and if he wanted to leave the capital, there was no need to complain to his father, which would cause an unpleasant scene.

Well, after leaving the Lu Mansion, King Yu's sedan went around the capital city again. Through the sedan curtain, he saw the bustling streets of the capital city, with crowds of people and busy traffic. He also saw the majestic palace city in the center of the city. The city wall, where he was born.

King Yu rarely left his residence, so he called Gao Gong and asked if he could visit someone's house and buy some gifts at the market.

Gao Gong rubbed his beard-covered chin, and after thinking about it, he said, "Why don't we go to Guangde's place? His house has a big yard. We, the palace officials, all rent houses outside, so it would be a bit difficult for His Highness to go there."

"Oh, is Guangde's home big?"

When King Yu heard what Gao Gong said, he immediately became interested.

He didn't think about Wei Guangde's corruption. He knew everything Wei Guangde did after he became an official. He was not yet ready to be greedy, so he could only say that the conditions created by his father were too good.

Thinking about myself, it seems that I am the same as him.

The so-called Prince Yu's Mansion is not the property of the ancestors. It is a palace built by Emperor Chengzu as a place for future princes to live.

The princes who lived here were either very lucky to move into the Forbidden City, but most of them left the capital and went to their own fiefs to join the vassal. It would be difficult to return to the capital in the future.

"Guangde's house has two front and back entrances, which is definitely not as good as those three-entry courtyards, but it occupies a large area and is in an excellent location. It is in Nanxunfang and not far from the palace."

Gao Gong saw that Prince Yu seemed to be moved, and sighed inwardly. After all these years of being a prince, Prince Yu had never been to the minister's mansion a few times. The previous times he had gone there on orders, on behalf of the emperor. Not at all comfortable.

In fact, King Jing is similar. He usually does not visit officials' mansions, but has a separate courtyard outside to socialize with other people.

"Then go there. By the way, where did Guangde go?"

King Yu said happily.

"Guangde has gone back to the Hanlin Academy. I'll have someone send him a letter right now. Let's walk around the market and buy some gifts."

Gao Gong saw that King Yu was very interested, so he spoke.

Send a message to Wei Guangde so that he can be prepared, and by the way, let King Yu take a walk around the streets of the capital.

It is also important for future monarchs to understand the sentiments of the people.

The city of Beijing in this era is undoubtedly one of the largest cities in the world during this period.

The three largest cities in Europe during this period were Paris, Naples and Venice, with a population of about 150,000. Other cities with a population of more than 100,000 were located on the seaside, riverside or trade centers, namely Sevia, Genoa, Milan.

The populations of other European cities known to Chinese people in later generations, such as Cologne, Pisa, Montpellier, Florence, Barcelona and Valencia, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Antwerp and Brussels, are much smaller. , most of which only have a scale of 30,000 to 50,000 people.

Even London, the largest city in England at the time, had a population of less than 50,000 people, and the other cities on the three islands had very few with a population of more than 10,000.

In Europe as a whole, the total population is estimated to be only about 70 million people.

What were the big European cities like at that time?

Walking along the muddy path and walking out of the forest, the first thing you see is the cold city walls and turrets.

Looking out from the turret, you can see the triangular roofs of wealthy people's houses and the spiers of small churches, but they are much overshadowed by the many main churches.

Within the city wall, there may be one or two fairly spacious roads, and then there are only winding alleys. On both sides of the alleys are mostly low-rise bungalows, which are the residences of residents.

During this period, Europe was gradually moving from ignorance to a civilized society. The discovery of new sea routes and new continents brought about the "Age of Discovery" and promoted the unprecedented development of European economy and trade.

The exploration of the unknown world, the search for new territories and wealth, the search for spices and the improvement of navigation promoted the development of Europe.

Huge wealth has also promoted the development of culture. The culture that was highly prosperous in the classical era of Greece and Rome experienced decline and oblivion during the "Dark Ages" of the Middle Ages. It was not until this period that it was "reborn" and "revived."

And what was the city of Beijing like during the Ming Dynasty at this time?

The city of Beijing built in the early Ming Dynasty was 6,670 meters wide from east to west, 5,310 meters deep from north to south, and covered an area of ​​35.4 million square meters.

The main and secondary arterial roads in the city form a vertically long rectangular street network, with blocks within the grid and horizontal alleys within the blocks.

A few years ago, the imperial court finally decided to build the outer city of Beijing. It was originally planned to build the outer city on all sides, with a total length of more than 70 miles. However, due to limited manpower and financial resources, only about 13 miles of the southern part was built and then the work was stopped. Beijing was transformed from the original city. The rectangular shape developed into a convex plan with an outer city on the south.

What is the population of Beijing city?

Beijing Bianfangpu Baojia, "regardless of Qi Wan, lords, officials of the capital, domestic and foreign squires, supervisors, and indigenous residents", a total of 525 shops, 15,119 A, and 134,000 households, calculated as 5 people per household, about 67 Thousands of people, including the maids and eunuchs in the imperial city, as well as those who were underreported, should not be much different than 700,000.

Such a big city naturally dazzled King Yu. He soon forgot about going to Wei Guangde's house and kept urging the bearers to rush to the lively market.